It’s that time of year again with the upcoming 2013 Record Store Day when the vinyl faithful get a sturdy pat on their backs for keeping the candles burning and the good intentions of the rest of us get a little shot in the arm and dust of the records we’ve been meaning to listen to. This year’s homage to all things vinyl falls on the 20th April 2013, so with 46 days to from the time of writing, there’s plenty of room for record shop manoeuvres, but worst case scenario, every record store should be packed to the rafters come the 20th.
This year is the 6th annual event to take place in the UK following its inception in 2007, so it’s been gathering pace for a while. Whether you’re old school and love the vinyl or you’re a CD freak the 20th is your chance to celebrate everything that’s great and good about record stores. The difficulties big stores like HMV have had in recent years only goes to show how tough it must be to keep a little independent store up and running year in year out, so Record Store Day is the chance to celebrate that and reignite the tangible love of music that record shops preserve.
The 2013 Ambassador has recently been announced as Jack White, and the film of the year goes to last year’s Last Shop Standing. Every store participating in the event will be featuring something special for the day, so if you’re not sure about where your closest shop is, visit https://www.recordstoreday.co.uk/participating-stores.aspx and put your postcode in the little box.
For anyone that doesn’t understand why the day is so important, because of the download age that’s taken over so dramatically, here’s our list of reasons to be cheerful about record shops:
1. They sell actual pieces of work, not just a digitised chunk of musical coding, including album artwork and notes, which are often overlooked with downloadable music.
2. They focus on albums in their entirety, promoting the importance of listening to a band’s body of work together, not just snapshot scattergun downloads. This is the way a band intends their work to be listened to, and while not all songs on an album are great, listening to them all means you might find a couple of growers or hidden gems. That’s not to say there’s no place for music downloads, but looking at an entire album has given music a lot of it’s heritage over the years, which would be a shame to lose. Imagine missing out on huge swaths of Excile On Main Street, Congratulations or Nevermind.
3. When you buy a CD or vinyl you take something physical away with you, so you can easily lend it to friends, digitise, sell or give it away. However, with downloads, all you get is a digital file that can be a right cafuffle to share sometimes and doesn’t go down so well if you leave it in a black bag with all the old jumpers you bought when you were into Flight of the Concords a bit too much.
4. Record Stores are populated by music loving freaks who’ll be happy to help you find great music. They lovingly compile their shop front to showcase the kind of music that can often be overlooked in mainstream media, giving you little known finds that make Plan B look like a soulless robot invented by low level criminal gangs operating out of a flat on Severn Sisters Road.
5. Both CDs and records make brilliant throwing implements. In a bind they can be fashioned into varying sizes of throwing stars with a pair of sharp scissors if you’re ever attacked by a clan of origami ninjas.
6. Having a healthy collection of CDs and records is a good way to initiate short term, non-impregnating procreation projects. When a girl sees the size and diversity of your music collection she’ll be whipping her skinny cargo pants and French knickers off faster than the lasses on Take Me Out on a night at Fernando’s. Similarly, when a guy sees you’ve actually got good taste in music as well as a Palmer girl black dress, slick back hair and ruby red lipstick, he’ll be on his knees waving a ring in your face quicker than the dudes on death row when they get an unexpected letter from a desperate 30 something with a child bearing maniacal glint in her eye. Neither of these two scenarios can be replicated with tracks on your iPod (other MP3 players are available, but they’re a bit merde)! The best thing is, if you’re looking for a fast exit, the collection can be called upon once again citing irreconcilable musical differences.
7. Record Stores are amazing reminders of the origins of modern music and it’s popularisation throughout the 20th Century. Read any decent music autobiography and it’ll be littered with loving anecdotes of the first records bought and their impact, the hunt for rare blues, rock ‘n’ roll and jazz records and the band mates found while pouring over boxes of records in the darker areas of the store.
