Record Store Day 2017

It's hard to believe that today is the 10th anniversary of Record Store Day. I think I might've missed the first one or two, then spent a number of years making unfeasibly early train trips to Rough Trade East, before South Records opened in Southend and became my local 'go-to' store.

This morning I arrived at around 6.20 a.m. and took the coveted 10th spot in the queue, with my purchase list in one hand and flask of coffee in the other. My good spot led to a few phone calls with friends to see if there was anything I could grab for them, which helped to pass the time and to distract from the fact that it had started to rain.

8 o'clock rolled round soon enough, and the entry to the shop was a much more civilized affair this year, with numbers in and out controlled to avoid a mad scramble of arms and legs at the record racks. So thanks to Richard and the team for doing a great job of looking after their customers.

My records were bagged in one of the special edition Fred Perry tote bags and I was soon back on my way home to start spinning the vinyl. Here's what I bought this year:

1. Polica - 'Lipstick Stains'; white vinyl 7"
2. British Sea Power - 'Keep On Trying / Bad Bohemian'; pink vinyl 7"
3. The The - 'We Can't Stop What's Coming'; etched 7"
4. Elbow - 'August & September (The The cover)'; etched 7"
5. Swet Shop Boys - 'Sufi La'; white vinyl 12"
6. Prince - 'Pop Life'; 12"
7. Prince - 'Sign O' The Times'; 12"
8. Follakzoid feat. J. Spaceman - 'London Sessions'; 12"
9. Primal Scream - 'Mixomatosis'; 12"
10. BP Fallon & David Holmes - 'Henry McCullough (Andrew Weatherall mix); white & brown splatter 12"
11. David Bowie - 'No Plan EP'; blue vinyl etched 12"
12. The Atomic Bomb Band - 'Plays The Music of William Onyeabor'; 12" album
13. Maximo Park - 'Risk To Exist'; red & yellow splatter vinyl 12" album
14. David Bowie - 'Cracked Actor'; triple vinyl 12" album
15. Various Artists: Oxfam Presents - 'Stand As One - Live at Glastonbury 2016'; one red & one green 12" vinyl album

I know some people are a bit snobby about Record Store Day and yes, it is commercialised to a degree, and people should support their local shops all year round, but if this gets new people into those shops I'm all for it. Long may it continue!

Record Store Day 2016

Another Record Store Day is coming to a close. Despite saying a few weeks ago that I wasn't going. each time I looked at the list of records available I found something else to interest me. So this morning, like last year, I headed to South Records in Southend for an experience much like last year's. I got there about 6:40 and was 10th in the queue, which soon expanded.

Phil Jupitus arrived about an hour later carrying 2 boxes of records - he was DJing from 8-10, before going on to do 2 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang shows so he had a busy one!

Phil Jupitus, South Record Shop 16/4/16

The doors opened bang on 8 o'clock, and in an unfortunate repeat of last year, they proceeded to let the entire queue into the shop at once. I'm sure it wouldn't be that difficult to regulate the number of people in the shop like a lot of other records stores do on RSD. Anyway, I headed straight for the 12" section where I got most of the singles I wanted, then turned round and eased towards the albums. By the time I'd grabbed a few of those I was literally stuck in the middle, unable to move towards the till, or anywhere in fact. Some shuffling and persuading took place and I managed to reach the box of 7"s to grab a few and then ease my way forward to pay. Squishing aside, I still got mostly everything I went for, and the prices were certainly more reasonable than in places like Rough Trade. I was out of the shop by 8:30 and headed off to the seafront for a marathon training run. Here's a picture of what I bought.

I've listened to nearly all of these and the one that absolutely sounds the best is 'Private Life' by Grace Jones - the bass and drums in particular are amazing. The Public Service Broadcasting picture disc probably looks the best, but I'm not sure which is my favourite buy yet. I've got Xiu Xiu's Twin Peaks covers on at the moment, which is a strong contender, along with the Requiem For A Dream Soundtrack and Howard Marks doing Dylan Thomas. Here's the full list of what I got.

1. The Other Side - Public Service Broadcasting (7" picture disc)
2. Cool Out - Matthew E White & Natalie Prass (7")
3. Lightning Strikes The Postman - The Flaming Lips (CD & comic)
4. When A Woman Is Around - Unloved (12", red vinyl)
5. Mantra For A State of Mind - Primal Scream (12")
6. Private Life - Grace Jones (12")
7. The Great Confuso EP - Blanck Mass (12", mulberry vinyl)
8. Unreleased Versions & Remixes vol 1 - Django Django (12")
9. Where Are U Now - Skrillex & Diplo feat. Justin Bieber (12", yellow vinyl)
10. A Badman Sound / Heath Town / Inf Inf Inf Inf - Mark Pritchard / Bibio / Clark (12")
11. Do Not Go Gentle - Howard Marks reads Dylan Thomas (12", green vinyl)
12. Xiu Xiu plays the music of Twin Peaks - Xiu Xiu (double album, 1 red & 1 blue vinyl)
13. Requiem For A Dream OST - Clint Mansell & Kronos Quartet (double album)

Record Store Day 2015

After four or five years of heading up to Rough Trade in London I decided to keep it local for Record Store Day (that's kind of the point after all) and so I headed to South in Southend.

The queue at South, 7am this morning

The benefits of this decision were immediately apparent when a) I got an extra hour in bed and b) I was 4th in the queue when I arrived. The usual queue banter took place (seems record collectors are pretty much decent folk wherever you go) while we waited for the store to open, which happened at bang on 8 o'clock. Now, South isn't the largest shop in the world, which brings me to my only gripe of the day - once the doors were opened everyone poured in, leading to a bit of a scrum around the albums and making it impossible for me to get to the 7" singles once I'd finished at the 12"s. So maybe next year they could manage the volume of people in the shop a bit more - that's one thing that Rough Trade has managed to get right over the years.

My 2015 Record Store Day haul

Anyway, moan over. Aside for the Johnny Marr 7" that had gone by the time I reached the counter I got pretty much everything that was on my list, with a free book thrown in too. Here's the run down, listed in roughly the order in which I targeted them.

• Run The Jewels - Bust No Moves; clear 12"
• Jon Hopkins - I Remember (Nils Frahm remix); white vinyl 10"
• Hot Chip - Atomic Bomb (John Talabot remix); 12"
• Sinkane / The Charlatans - Emile; yellow vinyl 7"
• Serge Gainsbourg - Serge Gainsbourg et Le Cinema; 
• Foo Fighters - Songs From The Laundry Room; 10"
• Kode9 & The Spaceape - Ghost Town; gold vinyl 7"
• Courtney Barnett - Kim's Caravan; 12"
• Jay Z / Ghostface Killah - U Don't Know / Whip You With A Strap; 7"
• Gram Parsons / The Lemonheads - Brass Buttons; pink vinyl 7"
• Warpaint / Daughter - Feeling Alright / Winter; 12"
• Toy & Jane Weaver - Fell From The Sun 7"
• Free book: Strange Requests and Comic Tales from Record Shops by Graham Jones

Update: On the Monday after Record Store Day I went across to Rough Trade and picked up a couple more things, namely:

• Metronomy - Boy Racers; Ferrari Red 12"
• St Paul & The Broken Bones - Sing A Simple Song; Albama-shaped burgundy vinyl

Remix of the Day: William Onyeabor's 'Atomic Bomb' by Hot Chip remixed by John Talabot

Hot Chip's version of 'Atomic Bomb' was one of my favourite tracks from my purchases on Record Store Day last year. Now, fresh for Record Store Day 2015, comes this remix of the track by John Talabot, and it is indeed the bomb. This is going straight on my shopping list for April 18th.

Record Store Day 2014 - A Tale of Two Cities

The annual vinyl fest that is Record Store Day presented me with a conundrum this year - a new record shop opened up fairly locally a couple of months ago; should I go to that and support the local trader or make my usual trip to London. I had to weigh up the fact that there would be less people in the queue at Southend against the knowledge that they would would have a smaller selection than Rough Trade East in Shoreditch. The solution? Go to both of course!

The alarm was duly set for 4:45 am (!) and I got to Rough Trade just after 6, seconds after my Crocuh End-dwelling shopping companion. A quick tally down the queue showed that there were already about 100 people ahead of us at that ungodly hour. Fortunately MJC had brought a flask of strong java to keep us going. Doors opened bang on 8 am, with the usual well-managed queue meaning that we were inside just after 8:30. The friendly chat while we'd waited had discovered that both I and the guy in front of me were after the LCD Soundsystem box set - he was in the shop ahead of me and kindly grabbed 2 off the shelf, handing me one before I'd even spotted where they were (people who like records are, as a rule, nice people aren't they?). Although some of the rarest stuff had already gone (I missed out on Liars and Damon Albarn) pretty much everything else I wanted was still there. I worked out the total, gulped, put a few of the non-essential items back (standard practice on RSD) but was happy with my final selection.

The Rails of the first leg of their trans-Atlantic journey, London 19/4/14

Although the live music at Rough Trade usually starts later in the day, we got a chance to see The Rails as they were on at 9:30, which was an early-morning treat. The early start was to allow them to play, in true Phil Collins Live Aid style, on both sides of the Atlantic in one day - after their appearance at Rough Trade East they were heading for a flight to New York, where they'll be on at Rough Trade NYC tonight.

Live set watched, I headed round to Liverpool Street Station for the train back to Southend, hopped on and from where I'm currently writing this. Here's a list of what I bought in London:

1. LCD Soundsystem - The Long Goodbye (5 x vinyl lp boxset)
2. William Onyeabor - What?! (2 x 12")
3. Gil Scott-Heron - Nothing New (lp)
4. Various - XFM X-posure Sessions (lp)
5. Clint Mansell - In The Wall OST (brown and red splatter vinyl lp)
6. The Wedding Present - EP4 (clear vinyl 10" - in Welsh!)
7. The Notwist - Run Run Run (double groove 12")
8. Temples / Jagwar Ma - split 12" picture disc
9. The The - Giant (12")
10. Various - The Space Project (6 x 7" boxset)
11. Public Service Broadcasting - Elfstedentocht (white vinyl 7")
12. Villagers - Occupy Your Mind (clear vinyl 7")

An hour later and I'm off the train and walking down Southend High Street to my second store of the day. A much smaller affair than Rough Trade obviously, but it was nice to have a chat with the staff (although I always feel a bit self-conscious looking through the racks when the staff are right bedside you). Luckily they had a couple of bits that I couldn't get in London so it was worth the visit - I grabbed these three:

1. Liars - Mess On A Mission (clear vinyl 12" with wool inside it)
2. Django Django - Porpoise Song (grey vinyl 7")
3. Africa Express - Maison Des Jeunes (double blue vinyl lp)

My purchases for 2014

Remix of the Day: 'Run Run Run (Ada Remix)' by The Notwist

Originally from one of my favourite albums of the year, 'Close To The Glass', this track has been remixed as part of The Notwist's release for Record Store Day 2014 (which takes place next week, on April 19th). It's a great reinterpretation of the track, with the glitchy electronica beautifully matched with the haunting cello. If you can find a vinyl copy in the shops next week it apparently comes with one of those concentric grooves so you're not sure what version of the track you're going to hear when you put the stylus on the record.

Record Store Day 2013 - the podcast

OK, so I finally got round to making a podcast / cloudcast / mixtape / whatever of some of my favourite purchases from this year's Record Store Day (you can read my write-up of the day here). Just click on the rather large 'Play' button below to listen, the tracklist follows after the jump.

Record Store Day 2013 by Dj Cull on Mixcloud

1. Public Service Broadcasting - New Dimensions In Sound
2. The Wedding Present - 425 Fidelio (German version)
3. Moon Duo - Sleepwalker (Zombie Zombie Remix)
4. Elliott Smith - Angeles (alternate version)
5. Paul Weller - Flame-Out!
6. Moon Duo - I Been Gone (Life Coach Remix)
7. Public Service Broadcasting - Signal 30
8. Beak> - Welcome To The Machine
9. Sinkane - Jeeper Creeper (Benjamin Damage Remix)
10. Moon Duo - Trails (White Rainbow Remix)
11. Mercury Rev - Pick Up, If You're There (DJ Nickel 1998 Remix)
12. Moby & Mark Lanegan - The Lonely Night (Photek Remix)
13. Ghostpoet - Meltdown
14. Grizzly Bear - Sleeping Ute (Nicolas Jaar Remix)

Recommended music: 'Circles Remixed' by Moon Duo

From the moment that the needle touches the vinyl and an eerie space noise starts to emerge, you know that this is going to be a good record. Pressed especially for Record Store Day 2013 by Souterrain Transmissions and limited to 1,000 copies, the album features eight of the original nine tracks from 'Circles', each remixed by a different artist. And despite the fact that the mixes have been done in isolation and are pretty diverse in styles the album really works as one piece and gives a totally different perspective. Side 2 has definitely got the more experimental mixes on it  (from Sun Araw and Eric Copeland (Black Dice)) but there's nothing too 'challenging' on here.

If you can still find one in your local record emporium then snap it up quickly. It's definitely one of the best things I bought on Saturday (click here for my report on the day and full list of purchases) so grab it while you can. Here's the full tracklisting, after which you can download (for free!) possibly the best track on the album, the White Rainbow mix of 'Trails'.

1. Free Action - Tom Furse (of The Horrors) mix
2. Trails - White Rainbow Trail Blazer edition
3. Sleepwalker - Zombie Zombie mix
4. I Been Gone - Life Coach mix
5. I Can See - K-X-P live mix
6. Ville Cranian (Circles) - Sun Araw mix
7. Sparks - Eric Copeland mix
8. Rolling Out - Umberto mix

Recommended music: The Twilight Sad / Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat Record Store Day 2013 7"

The second single from Saturday to feature Scottish geniuses Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat, this one was released on Fat Cat Records and features two cover versions. First off The Twilight Sad put their stamp on '(If You) Keep Me In Your Heart' from the excellent Wells & Moffat album 'Everything's Getting Older'. The in return Wells & Moffat do 'Alphabet'  from last year's Twilight Sad album 'No One Can Ever Know'. Like most Record Store Day releases the single was limited (to 500 copies) and Fat Cat get bonus points from me for individually numbering each copy (mine is #338).

If you missed out on all the fun on Saturday (you know, queueing at 6.30 in the morning, fighting your way to the racks only to find that the thing you REALLY wanted had already gone) then you can listen to the both sides of the single below.

Recommended music: Mogwai / Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat Record Store Day 2013 7"

This is definitely one of the best things that I bought on Saturday from Rough Trade East. Aidan Moffat (in his L.Pierre guise) remixes 'Special N' from Mogwai's current album, the soundtrack to the French TV show Les Revenants. In return Plasmatron from Mogwai casts his magic of 'The Copper Top', one of the best tracks from Wells & Moffat's 'Everything's Getting Older' album. It gets bonus points from me for being pressed on white vinyl too.

If you didn't join a queue outside a record shop on Saturday then it's unlikely that you'll be able to get one of these, but you can listen to the two tracks below, and if you haven't already then you should buy both of the albums that the originals came from.

Record Store Day 2013

Another year, another unfeasibly early train ride into London to visit the vinyl Mecca that is Rough Trade East (having first had to scrape the ice off the car, despite the fact that it's April). The queue was definitely longer at 6.30 than it was last year, meaning that we didn't get straight in at 8 o'clock, but our hands were in reach of the record racks by about 8.25, and they weren't letting too many people in at once so it was pretty calm inside. Unfortunately a couple of things I wanted had already gone (the Mercury Rev album and the Brian Eno x Nicolas Jaar x Grizzly Bear 12") but I got pretty much everything else I wanted (see the list below for my successful purchases).

Emerging from Rough Trade about 9.45 I headed down to Mother Gallery for the Secret 7s sale, not to buy anything but just to see what was around. There was another queue to get in and quite a lot had gone by the time I was in, but it seemed like a fun event to raises money for Art Against Knives.

A spot of brunch followed, and then I returned to Rough Trade (where I'm sat writing this) to watch some of the music. So far I've seen sets from Daniel Avery and then Sam Willis (Walls), and I'll be watching Public Service Broadcasting before I head home. I'll stick some pictures onto this post later but in the meantime here's a list of what I got:

1. Pulp x Soulwax - After You 12"
2. Ghostpoet - Meltdown 10"
3. Moon Duo - Circles Remixed 12"album
4. Primal Scream - I Want You 12"
5. Toy x The Horrors - Motoring / Moving Further Away 12"
6. Sinkane - Jeepers Creepers 12"
7. Beak> - 0898 / Welcome To The Machine 10"
8. The Wedding Present - 4 Lieder EP 10"
9. Factory Records - Communications vol. 2 10"
10. Elliott Smith - Either/Or 7"
11. Public Service Broadcasting - Signal 30 7"
12. Paul Weller - Flame Out 7"
13. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Animal X picture 7"
14. Moby & Mark Lanegan - The Lonely Night 7"
15. The Twilight Sad / Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat - split 7"
16. Mogwai / Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat - split 7"

Here's some pictures of the day:

RSD13 - the queue at Rough Trade 6.30am (part 1)

RSD13 - the queue at Rough Trade 6.30am (part 2)

Daniel Avery DJ'ing amongst the foliage

Sam Willis (Walls)

Public Service Broadcasting

Track of the Day: 'After You (Soulwax Mix)' by Pulp

Released exclusively on vinyl for Record Store Day (this Saturday) this is every bit as massive as you would hope for. It's pretty much a music lover's wet dream - the long lost Pulp song which emerged unexpectedly over Christmas, having had its knobs twizzled and buttons polished by none other than James Murphy from LCD Soundsystem, gets a make-over from Belgiums Dewaele brothers, thus ensuring that it fits nicely into their DJ sets. This has gone straight to the top of my shopping list for Rough Trade on Saturday.

Recommended music: 'The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends' bt The Flaming Lips

Much better than their ropey cover of 'Dark Side of the Moon', more consistent than the patchy 'Embryonic', this is the best and most interesting Lips release for the last few years. Putting aside the nonsense of the special packaging for the Record Store Day vinyl release (including the artists' blood?) the record manages to rein in their indulgences sufficiently to make a surprisingly cohesive and tuneful record, while still allowing them the occasional freakout into psyche-land.

Opener '2012 (You Must Be Upgraded)' is definitely one of the best tracks on show, with Ke$ha switching from Amazonian robot mistress to sultry soul seducer and back again over the course of its 4 minutes.

'Ashes in the Air' sounds nothing like Justin Vernon's previous work, either with Bon Iver or any of his guest slots, and if there are echoes of Gayngs in his backing vocals there certainly aren't in the lyrics, which are about robot battles, burning flesh and generally being fucked up. Edward Sharpe takes the reins on the pastoral 'Helping The Retarded To Know God' which includes birdsong, choirs and acoustic guitars along with some squelchy space noises.

'Supermoon Made Me Want To Pee' is a noisy, scuzzy, mostly instrumental thrash which gives way to 'Children of the Moon, a happy, hippy song that could easily sit on either 'Mystics' or 'Yoshimi'. 'That Ain't My Trip' matches lyrics about 'shaving my balls' to a throbbing bassline and some great psyche guitars, and is followed by Nick Cave doing a bit of a Mark E. Smith impression on 'You, Man? Human???'.

I'm sure you can imagine what a song by The Flaming Lips called 'I'm Working At NASA On Acid' sounds like...it starts off more gently that you might imagine, but the acid soon kicks in and you're on a supersonic space trip to Mars, before landing back at mission control at the end. 'Do It!' pins tribal drums to Yoko Ono's exhortations to, well, do it, while 'Is David Bowie Dying?' doesn't seem to have any discernible links to the Thin White Duke but is good nonetheless. This brings us to the big (10 minute long)  mistake on the album - the cover of 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face' featuring Erykah Bade. The singing is mediocre at best, the backing track a dirge - frankly they were never going to improve on the original, but this is a very sub-standard version. 'Girl, You're so Weird' is much better - reasonably simple and straightforward, apart from the breakdown in the middle and the kinky lyrics, it shows what can be done when the balance between creativity and excess is carefully managed. Closer 'Tasered and Maced' is a strangely engaging story of someone being caught by the police, and sets a suitable unusual close to the record.

An entertaining amble through Wayne Coyne's contact list.

Record Store Day 2012

So I'm back from the annual Record Store Day pilgrimage to Rough Trade East - obviously I go there at other times during the year, but this special day in April is always a 'must-do'. Having arrived at 6.30 there seemed to be less people in the queue than last year, although they soon built up behind us. The shop was more organised than ever before, with the albums & 12"s arranged alphabetically in racks, and a special counter for the 7"s. Having filled up the baskets that Spencer handed to us Pete & I made our way to the back of the store to tally up our purchases, faint at the cost, and then sift out some of the less essential pieces. You can see the evidence of my haul at the top, here's a list of what I got (left to right, back to front):

1. Ty Seagall & White Fence - Hair - white vinyl 12 (ltd. to 180)
2. DJ Food - Amorphous Androgynous remixes - orange marble 12" (ltd. to 1,000)
3. Tinariwen - Tassili remixes - orange vinyl 12" (ltd. to 500)
4. Lanterns on the Lake - Low Tide - white vinyl 12" (ltd. to 500)
5. Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds -  white vinyl 12" (ltd. to 1,000)
6. Richard Hawley - Leave Your Body Behind - 10" (ltd. to 750)
7. Big Deal vs S.C.U.M - split 7" - (ltd. to 250)
8. The Wedding Present - 4 Chansons EP - clear vinyl 10"
9. The Civil Wars - Billie Jean / Sour Times 7"
10. Gorillaz - Do Ya Thing - one-sided 10" picture disc (ltd. to 500)
11. Elbow - McGregor - one-sided 7"
12. Dirty Beaches / Xiu Xiu - split 7" (ltd. to 300)
13. Field Music - Actually, Nearly - 
14. The White Stripes - Handsprings / Red Death at 6.14 - black / red swirl vinyl 7"
15. Arctic Monkeys - R U Mine? / Electricity - purple vinyl 7" (ltd. to 1,750)
16. The Black Angels - Watch Out Boy / I'd Rather Be Lonely - orange vinyl 7"
17. David Lynch - Noah's Ark (Moby Remix) - 12" (ltd. to 500)
18. Moby - David Lynch & Photek Remixes - white vinyl 12" (ltd. to 300)
19. Hot Chip - Night and Day (Daphni Mix) - one sided 12" (ltd to 1,000)
20. LCD Soundsystem - Losing My Edge

I do have one complaint, which is that very few (i.e. only 2) of the things I bought this year came with download codes. I know that one of the points about the day is to get people to buy vinyl, but when you've spent 8 or 8 quid on a single, or £20-upwards on an album, it'd be nice to be able to listen to it somewhere other than in the same room as your turntable. Record companies take note and do more of this next year please!