Record Store Day is an event I have mixed feelings about. On one hand I think it’s great that there’s an event centered around independent record shops and I know it’s the biggest sales day of the year for most record shops, which is a very good thing. On the other hand I’m not a fan of the obsessive collectors culture it encourages and how it affords artists big and small to flood the market with crummy, unnecessary albums that are only created so they can be marketed with the Record Store Day logo on the sleeve.
But I’m not writing this to get on a soapbox about the pros and cons of exploitative marketing and consumer culture. Record Store Day is this Saturday and despite my mixed feelings, I’ll more than likely be waiting in line for a few hours outside of my local record shop so I can get my hands on some sweet slabs of exclusive vinyl goodness just like every other hardcore music nerd out there.
There will be plenty of excellent exclusives to be had Saturday and a lot of the great records that are being released are coming from local labels or artists with local ties. Here’s a look at what some local artists and local labels are offering up for this year’s Record Store Day. You can find the complete listing of RSD offerings over here.
Sub Pop Records
Sub Pop 1000 LP
Shearwater & Sharon Van Etten
Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around b/A Wake for the Minotaur
b/w “A Wake for the Minotaur”
Elliott Smith
Alternate Versions from Either/Or 7″
Soundgarden
King Animal Demos 10″
Chris Walla
Never Give Up / Incredibly Still 7″
Akimbo
Live To Crush LP (limited run of 500)
Light in the Attic Records
Rodriguez
Cold Fact LP (clear vinyl, limited run of 500)
Mad Season
Above (expanded edition vinyl)
Jimi Hendrix
Hey Joe b/w Stone Free 7″
Moby & Mark Lanegan
The Lonely Night 7″
Botch
American Nervoso (deluxe 2xLP)
