Record Store Day Approacheth…

What are you doing on April 18th? I know it s a few weeks away, but Sat., April 18th is Record Store Day. That’s the day you wait in line in order to get awesome, exclusive stuff at the local record shop(s) that hopefully the rest of the year you are blowing all of your available money at. A lot of labels and acts are issuing limited edition vinyl records just for the event — records by the likes of New Order, Modest Mouse, Depeche Mode, Akron/Family, Depeche Mode, the Killers, the Stooges, Beck, Arthur Russell, Radiohead, Slayer and dozens more. Most participating stores will have free live shows all day. So, you totally have to go! (Ohh, and if you somehow wind up with a spare Sonic Youth/ Jay Reatard split 7”, save it for me will you? Thanks.)

I’ve loved record stores and spent an inordinate amount of time in them since I was about twelve years old — as a customer, a loiterer, and an employee. As a resident of Portland, OR I’m super stoked that mayor Sam Adams has mayorally decreed April 18th Record Store Day throughout all of Portland. Though I don’t think that would magically like transform the little noodle shop down the street into the record shop of your dreams. It would be nice, though.

To see what shops near you participate, check here.

—DJ Yeti