The Record Store Day 2012 list arrives
The record geek’s official holiday falls on April 21st this year, and the finalized list of releases is now officially available. As usual, these mostly limited edition releases are exclusive to participating independent record stores. Early rumors weren’t indicating that this would be a particularly good year for exclusives, but the final list is actually pretty solid. Lots of exciting releases/reasons to be concerned about your financial situation.
As Record Store Day has become a bigger and bigger event over the past few years, I read more and more disparaging coverage of it across the internet. Hardcore vinyl enthusiasts take issue with the ‘fetishizing’ of the format via what they perceive as gimmicky cash-grabs. Between the myriad picture discs, colored 7″s, lithographic jackets and “collector’s tins” (yes, seriously), it can seem like the collectability of RSD releases becomes more important than the music itself. Others simply feel ripped off by the inflated prices, deceptive re-packaging of old releases and exaggerated claims of exclusivity (‘limited edition’ purchases don’t feel quite as special when they get repressed for less money two months later). These are valid claims, but I don’t think they collectively outweigh the positives of Record Store Day. Let’s remember that the point of the whole thing, at least in theory, is to get people excited about shopping at music stores which are largely hurting for business. Any event that helps to keep more record stores open gets a pass in my book. The labels, especially those of the non-indie variety, do come up with plenty of gimmicky garbage to sell you, but that doesn’t mean you’re obligated to buy any of it. And for every re-packaged Red Hot Chilli Peppers album and Disturbed box set (again, yes, seriously), there’s a cool release from an independent artist that’s well worth your time. The master list just takes a bit of sorting through. Most stores also hold sales, giveaways and other special events on RSD, so there are worthwhile aspects even if you want to avoid the mad rush to grab the exclusives anyway.
As I’ve done for the previous several years, I’ve put together my own list of notable exclusives to be on the lookout for. Your tastes may vary, of course, but here’s what I’m hoping to pick up:
-Animal Collective – Transverse Temporal Gyrus – A 12″ featuring some of the music from the band’s performance art installation at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City last year. I’ll be expecting something in the band’s more experimental vein rather than Merriweather Post Pavillion part 2, but this should be pretty interesting regardless.
-Beach House – Lazuli b/w Equal Mind – A white 7″ featuring a cut from the new Beach House record due out in May (which is, spoiler alert, very good) plus a non-album b-side.
-David Bowie – ‘Starman’ – A 7″ picture disc (I know, I know) with the original ‘Starman’ and a live rendition. This one’s not at the top of my priorities list, but I am somewhat of a Bowie obsessive and will be quite tempted to grab this if I see it.
-Deerhoof/Of Montreal – ‘Stygian X’ / ‘Vivisection’ – Split 7″ from Polyvinyl with two exclusive tracks. I’ve never really gotten into Deerhoof, but new Of Montreal (presumably from the Paralytic Stalks sessions) sounds good.
-Destroyer – Destroyer’s Rubies – Reissue of Dan Bejar’s finest hour on a set of ruby red LPs. I may not bother with this, since I already own the original pressing, but it’s worth pointing out anyway. Originals are tough to come by and this is absolutely a record worth owning in physical form.
-Leonard Cohen – Live In Fredericton EP – A live recording from Cohen’s 2008 tour. I’m becoming more of a Leonard Cohen fan by the day, and I’m definitely curious to hear how material from his early LPs is interpreted live nowadays.
-Luna – Rendevouz and Romantica – 180 gram issues of two albums from Dean Wareham’s post-Galaxie 500 band, previously unavailable on vinyl and limited to 1,000 copies each. I adore Galaxie 500, but I’ve never delved too far into the Luna catalog. This seems like a perfectly valid opportunity to do so.
-M83 – ‘Mirror’ – A one-sided, etched 7″ featuring a previously unreleased song. How Anthony Gonzales has more music to release after last year’s double album Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming and the massive, ongoing tour to support it is beyond me, but I’m happy for it nonetheless.
-Mastodon/Feist – ‘A Commotion’ / ‘Black Tongue’ – A 7″ on which indie pop singer/songwriter Feist and sludge metal band Mastodon cover one another. Hopefully there’s no need for me to explain why this will be worth hearing.
-Mastodon/The Flaming Lips – ‘A Spoonful Weighs A Ton’ – A pink 7″ featuring the classic Flaming Lips track and a cover by Mastodon. Unfortunately The Flaming Lips do not offer up a Mastodon cover for this one, but it’s cool anyway.
-Mclusky – Mclusky Do Dallas – Reissue of the Welsh noise-rock band’s best LP on 150 gram white vinyl. It’s an insane, energetic, vulgar and darkly hilarious Steve Albini-produced record that’s very difficult to track down on vinyl at the moment. Many reasons to be excited.
-Misfits – Walk Among Us – A possibly pointless reissue of the horror-punk band’s classic album on vinyl of several different, randomly distributed colors. I’ll probably grab this one simply because I don’t own any of the previous reissues already, and because Danzig-era Misfits will never not be awesome.
-Refused – The Shape of Punk to Come – Another reissue of the Swedish post-hardcore band’s game changing final album, this time on red vinyl. Again, kind of unnecessary, but I don’t own any of the previous reissues yet. And the album is brilliant.
-Sigur Ros – Hvarf-Heim – Companion compilation releases by the Icelandic post-rock heroes, on vinyl for the first time. Colored vinyl, no less. This is a Sigur Ros release I’ve never really familiarized myself with, so again, this seems like the proper opportunity.
-St. Vincent – ‘Krokodil’ – 7″ featuring two new, supposedly guitar-heavy tracks. Annie Clark is awesome, and she can shred, so this is an obvious must-have.
-The Electronic Anthology Project of Dinosaur Jr. – Frontman J Mascis and Built to Spill member Brett Nelson reinterpret classic Dinosaur Jr tracks via synthpop. Also, the vinyl is purple. Try and tell me that doesn’t sound at least a little bit fascinating.
-The Flaming Lips – The Flaming Lips with Heady Fwends – Last but certainly not least is arguably the most headline-grabbing of any RSD release this year. This double LP on psychedelically multi-colored vinyl will feature the Lips collaborating with Ke$ha, Biz Markie, Bon Iver, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Prefuse 73, Tame Impala, Jim James, Nick Cave (!), Lightning Bolt, Yoko Ono, Neon Indian, Erykah Badu, New Fumes and Chris Martin. There are no doubt some odd choices in there, but knowing the Lips this should turn out to be pretty awesome regardless. Besides, the presence of Nick Cave immediately cancels out the potential trainwreck that is the inclusion of Ke$ha.