Celebrate record store day!
by Johanna Coulson
Riot Grrl:Like giant pandas and baleen whales, indie record shops are a dying breed. Let's join Amanda Palmer, Spoon and Jack White in dishing love to indie record shops on Record Store Day!
Just like the giant pandas and the baleen whales, it would appear that independently owned record shops are a dying breed. And what a shame! The people who work in these shops are living, breathing Last.FM profiles, full of new music and recommendations that they just know you're going to love. These shops are full of warmth, love for the music and always have a gorgeous musty smell. As Amanda Palmer says, "you can't get that feeling sitting behind your computer, ever".
Whilst the pandas and whales have countless organisations doing their bit to save them, who is campaigning for the indie stores? Well, the people behind Record Store Day are! The original idea came from a guy called Chris Brown (no, not that Chris Brown), and Record Store Day was founded in 2007 by a group of people in an attempt to "show respect for the music that you've dedicated your careers and lives to, and help it from becoming nothing more than disposable digital data" (so says Jack White).
The aim of Record Store Day - which always takes place on the third Saturday every April - is to bring all independent record shops together to celebrate a strong love of music, especially that in its physical form. There are often special releases and meet-and-greets with artists, and other events such as parades and musical barbecues. Try to imagine your dream party and it'll be probably be happening in one of the several hundred record stores that take part.
I am a particular supporter of this special day since one of my favourite record stores, the fantastically named Criminal Records, had to be closed down a couple of years ago. This was the shop where I bought my first Dresden Dolls album, my first Polyphonic Spree album - the records that I couldn't find in HMV and were to turn my life upside-down.
Nothing beats browsing real, physical records in a real, physical shop. Admiring the artwork you hold in front of you for the first time, running your finger down the back cover examining the track listing, breathing in that new record smell (or is that just what I do?) - it's all part of the music buying experience. You can't get that from a couple of clicks on iTunes.
And what about the challenge of finding that dream song? It's so easy to download tracks now, the thrill of finding the record you've been after for ages has been lost. Do you know how long it took me to track down a copy of Grandmaster Gareth's 'Party Sounds'? Yes, I could have downloaded it in less than five minutes. But I just didn't wanna.
To quote Spoon from the credits of their latest album: "BUYING RECORDS IN RECORD STORES IS COOL".
Find out more about Record Store Day
In 2010 Record Store Day will be taking place on April 17th. Visit http://recordstoreday.com for more details, including a list of participating stores.
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Mookychick believes that climbing trees and riding giant turtles is more fun and girly than worrying about make-up. But if you want to worry about make-up instead of turtles? Fine by us. Be you feminist, kitten, punk, emo, indie, goth, witch, vegan, horror junky, intellectual, christian goth, corset queen, geek, unicorn, sea monkey... be you into alternative style, alternative health, spirituality, comics, manga, j-pop, harajuku or jock culture... we will always love you.
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Johanna is a unicorn enchantress and music geek extraordinaire. She likes playing with glitter glue, baking shortbread and is the proud owner of the most pointless twitter account in the world.
