April 19 cannot come sooner for music aficionados and vinyl collectors alike. The third Saturday in April, also known as Record Store Day, will have customers waiting patiently outside local shops to score limited releases of rare vinyl.
Record Store Day appeared in 2007 as means of highlighting the culture that encompasses local music shops, artists and music fans, and it is doing just that. The event has quickly gained popularity; almost 1,000 stores in the U.S. and hundreds more worldwide now participate in the day. Stores host activities ranging from live concerts to signings and parades, yet most come for the extremely exclusive vinyl releases.
Some of the records up for grabs this year are: Death Cab For Cutie’s ft. Magik*Magik Orchestra Live 2012, Joy Division’s An Ideal For Living and The Notorious B.I.G. Life After Death. But with so many record stores after only a few thousand records, no store knows for sure what they will have in stock.
Paul Wilbur, manager of the Davis-based record store Armadillo Music, can attest to the scarcity of certain records during the event.
“Say you’re looking for the LCD Soundsystem box set, they might press 3000 but there are probably 1000 record stores in the country that are all trying to buy it,” Wilbur said. “There is less supply than there is demand, so you never know what you’re going to find in any given record store.”
Even if the stores did know what would be in stock, they probably would still keep that list a secret.
“No store will tell you because they don’t want you to know. They want you to come through the door and look,” Wilbur said. “That’s the goal of it and to experience what it’s like to look for records.”
That experience is perhaps why the whole culture of vinyl has kept regulars coming back and newcomers intrigued.
“Everybody that comes through this door is able to take part in the music experience and they’re people who appreciate music especially its physical form,” Wilbur said. “I would argue they [visitors] are more inclined to sit and just listen to music as opposed to having an iPod on while they’re doing something else.”
Armadillo has leaked via Twitter that it will have a handful of CAKE and LCD Soundsystem box sets. As for the rest of their inventory, they encourage everyone to be at the door at 9 a.m. to find out.
The shop will have free coffee and snacks, raffles and giveaways at the start of the day.
Armadillo Music is located at 205 F St. For more information visit www.armadillomusic.com. For full list of Record Store Day releases visit www.recordstoreday.com.
— COLEMAN PERKINS
