It's our 100th episode and it's also Record Store Day! Join us in the store as we chat with RSD cofounder, and Criminal Records owner, Eric Levin. See what new stuff we have over on the site!
Creators & Guests
What is Record Store Society?
It's time to visit your favorite local record store; a place where music fans spend countless hours flipping through records, discuss the minutia of favorite b-sides, best live albums, and anything else music-related. If you have any questions, you can always find Tara and Natalie behind the counter ready to give a recommendation or tell you about a recent discovery. Join Record Store Society, a music podcast, biweekly to see what’s new or just to hang around for some music talk.
Hi everybody. It's Tara. Welcome to our 100th episode. I can't believe we made it this far. We are so thankful that you've joined us along this journey from our friends all the way in Japan, New Zealand, Brazil, the UK, Canada, from the West Coast in the United States to the East Coast.
Tara:Thank you so much for being with us, and and happy Record Store Day. Stay tuned to the end of the podcast to hear more Record Store Day picks from our friends of Record Store Society. And check out our website and our social media for a special surprise.
Natalie:Hey, Tara. You know what today is?
Tara:Is it 4:20?
Natalie:Sorta. Getting there.
Natalie:I love that answer. Your your head is in the right place. But even cooler than that, it's my 100th day in the store.
Tara:No way. What? Yeah. That's crazy. I
Natalie:can't believe it's been that long. It's just like it's sped by. I guess that's what happens when you have such a good time and you're around such cool people.
Tara:Yeah. Listening to music, alphabetizing records.
Natalie:It can hardly be called work. Right? Right.
Tara:Right. Oh, hi. How are you? I'm Tara.
Natalie:I'm Natalie.
Tara:Take a look around, see if you see any special edition albums you have to get. Let us know if you have any questions. Oh, yeah. 100 days.
Natalie:Yeah. And we have another pretty big deal coming up in the music store too. Another very special record store holiday. Oh, what could that be? A sacred a sacred day among our store patrons.
Tara:Oh, look who it is. It's Eric Levin.
Eric Levin:Hello.
Tara:Hi. Hi. I'm so glad you're here. We were just talking about special days.
Natalie:It's perfect timing. It's like it's as if you were summoned to us from the stars.
Eric Levin:Well, I'm happy to be here.
Natalie:Because, Tara, you were just about to say It's record store day. It's totally record store day.
Tara:And you, not only do you own one of the coolest record stores in Atlanta, you're also a founder of Record Store Day.
Eric Levin:That's right. I went to a music industry convention of my fellow record store owners, and I came with experience from our free comic book day as Criminal Records is certainly, both a comic shop and a record shop, and, I thought, hey, we should do this. And everybody agreed, And, I still sit on the Record Store Day board. It's my part time, full time job.
Tara:That's so cool. But can we go let's go back a little bit further. Pre record store day. How and why did you start Criminal Records? How did that start?
Eric Levin:It was a beef. I worked at a mom and pop rec shop in Daytona Beach where I'm from since I was 13, and and I got fed up with the owner who was, how do I put it, a civil war reenactor.
Tara:Oh, no. Oh, gosh. How Kuwait.
Eric Levin:Yes. So at that at at the end of my tenure, at the end of my rope, pretty much on a whim, I opened the store at 19.
Natalie:Wow.
Eric Levin:Yeah. So I really had no plans for a life in it. I just thought this would be a gas and, ended up moving up to Atlanta.
Tara:Wow. So you opened a store at 19 in Atlanta or you moved
Eric Levin:to Atlanta?
Tara:Oh, okay.
Eric Levin:Ran for Florida then. A year and a half, and then I decided, this was pre Olympics, but it had been announced and, I don't know, had the hometown blues, I guess. All my friends had gone to college, and I was kinda ready to move out of my parents' house, so I moved my childhood bedroom and my record store in a big van and set up shop in low 5 points.
Tara:It's still there today. Yep. It's amazing.
Natalie:That's pretty spectacular. I mean, at 19, how do you even have the wherewithal to launch a store? How did how?
Eric Levin:Well, I my personal inventory of records. It was painful each sale.
Natalie:Oh, wow. Oh, gosh.
Eric Levin:I'd amassed a large collection from when I started collecting at, like, 7 years old, and, didn't really get paid at the record store. I I got records, which is a truth you'll find among most record store employees. And, you know, $300 in my pocket, so enough gas to get to, Atlanta.
Tara:I mean, I used to work in the music department at, like, a books and music combo sort of box store, and I certainly did spend a large portion of my check on CDs and music. So I get that.
Eric Levin:Oh, yeah.
Tara:But how many records do you own now, do you think?
Eric Levin:Oh, oh, that's a good question. I, it's not an impressive amount because,
Tara:Really?
Eric Levin:Yeah. I also helped out at a comic shop that my best friend owned with his dad, and, his early lesson was don't don't collect what you sell. Oh. So I consider my personal collection kind of a lending library. You know, I keep it tight, but there are also special precious items that I I'll never part with.
Natalie:Yeah. That's a pretty spectacular entrepreneurial origin story, really. Yeah. And and not only did you start this business, you've kept it afloat now for decades.
Tara:That's And changed the game with Record Store Day.
Natalie:Yeah. You
Eric Levin:know that I'm very happy with Record Store Day. I hear complaints worldwide, as any limited edition expensive items will cause. But when I've had stores tell me that this made them stay in business or, you know, this reignited my fire. I've had label people say, I still have a job because of this and minor manufacturers who've opened, you know, cool, creating jobs, creating ideally goodwill. The offshoot of these special releases is just one part, what record store they should be.
Eric Levin:The original notion we actually launched that meeting I mentioned of record stores, was the same day that Tower Records closed, and all anybody could ever talk about is Best Buy, Target, Walmart, and Amazon and we were all having a good time, having good business in our local communities. We want to get journalists interested and those 1st couple years it was really hard because the editors weren't biting, they just didn't believe the thesis. So it took a couple of years to, party's over here. You know, you're you're you're missing it.
Tara:Yeah. And that was so that original meeting was that that was early 2000. Right? Because didn't record store officially kind of kick off 2007 or was it that same year?
Eric Levin:Yeah. We it went from, like, let's do this to alright. Like, 4 months later, I think, was our first event. There were I think, Warner Brothers made, like, 4 CDs. You know, they're this the idea was still free comic book day.
Eric Levin:So Oh, yeah. I was pushing to get things made to give away and throw, you know, throw a party, throw a barbecue. My first year, we had Janelle Monae played. And Wow. It was just, you know, as she is still, a local.
Eric Levin:And, god, we had a lot of Manchester orchestrators play played that day as well. It kinda went yeah. It was big and bold, and it's only gotten progressively better. The talent that we've had over the years appear, it's it's staggering.
Tara:Yeah. Do you have any insight into what albums get picked every year?
Eric Levin:I'm on the selection committee.
Tara:Oh, no way.
Eric Levin:But I demure, unless I see it, the it going what I feel is wonky.
Tara:Wonky. You
Eric Levin:know, it's a group of about 12 record store owners who are anonymous because they I don't know why we did them anonymous, so
Tara:not not
Eric Levin:like it's politics or anything, but we vet what the labels and artists send our way. So it's really hard to say, you're not special enough. Or Yeah. Sometimes it is easy. It's like, oh, you're just doing a different color of that one?
Eric Levin:You know? And we do deep research on each title, like, this hasn't been out on vinyl. Okay. That's cool. But nobody wants it.
Eric Levin:Or, you know, this is on Discogs for $500. Like, let's make 25100 of those. Or we suggest the quantities. And it's, you know, there's a hippie dippy store in the northeast that does, you know, old hippie rock. So he's always like, oh, yeah, but far out, man.
Eric Levin:And, and I'm like the eighties guy, like, you know, what do you what do you mean? You're not you don't want the fun boy 3. Actually, that's on my list, and, a lot of a lot of that buying group pooh poohed it. And, you know, we just lost, the leader of Funboy 3.
Tara:Oh, yeah.
Eric Levin:Yeah. Terry Hall, and, you know, he's godhead in England, but leader of the specials, of course. You know, when we consider numbers, we think, okay, a1000 for the US, a1000 for the UK. And I was certain we could do 4000 for the UK on that title. And again, my partners were like, I was like, dude, they just named a street after him in London.
Eric Levin:It's
Tara:Yeah. It's a big deal.
Eric Levin:This is important. I had the same fight with, his other band Colorfield. Oh, that's too obscure, Eric. Because, like, no, it's not. It's all the it's all the b sides.
Tara:It's a
Eric Levin:British Ants collection. You're wrong. And so if I don't get my way, then I just go behind everybody's back and tell the label to do what I want. Yeah. And then there's the the vast majority of things I don't give a fuck about.
Eric Levin:Can it's in your store?
Tara:Oh, right. Yes. You can. Let her rip. We only swear in this store.
Tara:No. I'm just kidding. It is always a really good blend of, like, popular and then all the way to the deep cuts because sometimes I feel like I'm probably the only one with certain things on my list, and they usually are still there when I finally get there because I'm not one of those people that shows up at, like, 5 AM. That's for sure. So Yeah.
Eric Levin:I hate
Tara:that's a good thing for me. But
Eric Levin:Yeah. I hate I hate getting to work at 8 AM just to get it started.
Natalie:Oof. Yeah.
Eric Levin:And I So I'm very cognizant of I have this top ten list here, and I might not get one of them. You know, we get our records at the end of the day after everybody's had a chance to shop.
Tara:Oh, that's nice of you.
Eric Levin:You know, I for me, that's part and parcel. That's part of the whole deal. And, I'll be brokenhearted if I don't get some of these hard to get ones, but I also I,
Tara:You have connections. I have connections. I have connections.
Eric Levin:Pull them out, but, like, if I miss the funboy31, for example, yeah, I'll be pissed. But I ordered enough Probably have some leftover the next day.
Natalie:That's good. You mentioned a a board, a selection board for each event. Does that stay the same or does it change for each event? How does that work?
Eric Levin:We have some stalwarts that have been on that board since the start. Some of our smarter, more open minded record store owners, some stores just by their nature. They're busy, busy people, families, hobbies and stuff. And they drop off their communication and then we it's not like we disinvite them. We're like, hey, we're gonna take you off this or hey, we're gonna replace you with this person.
Eric Levin:There is a shuffle every year. And we yeah. We do do this as you mentioned, Natalie, for Record Store Day, in April, but also for the Black Friday event in November.
Natalie:I was hoping you were gonna say it was some kind of American Ninja Warrior obstacle course face off.
Tara:Well Name this vintage name this, barcode of this release. I know some nerd something about vinyl releases. I don't know. While scaling this wall. Yes.
Tara:Something like that.
Eric Levin:Yeah. Most record store owners do not scale walls. We do have a summer camp every August in New Orleans, which is just a gathering of record stores. It's like the one Oh. We've launched records for today with, but it's really just it's it's a business convention.
Eric Levin:We have vendors. We have labels and distributors. We have music. So it's it's not a competition, but it's like, hey, we could give out ribbons or badges or something for Well,
Natalie:it's it's a community effort. It sounds like you really try to nurture those relationships first, then the business. Maybe that feeds into the longevity.
Eric Levin:That's the hardest thing with this summer camp is that everybody wants to play with their friends.
Natalie:Yeah. And it's
Eric Levin:like, okay, everybody gather together. We're in a big big room talking about business, and and people are just as they should be talking about their businesses.
Natalie:That's great.
Tara:It's cool
Natalie:to hear that how you're sustaining the heart of the whole mission after all this time,
Eric Levin:you know. No. It's just it's grown so much. Yeah. You know, we have international people coming in for the summer camp, which is cool.
Eric Levin:I mean, I when I was a part of thinking of this, I I never thought it didn't occur to me to think about others other countries. It just wasn't on my agenda. Well, now it's so big internationally. I've got friends and faraway places. I always not always.
Eric Levin:I don't travel that much, but I've got my counterpart in Paris, got a lovely guy named David. I've got a counterpart in Amsterdam who I really look forward to seeing one day, and, her record store and the UK are mad about record store, Danny. They're just crazy.
Natalie:Oh, I bet.
Eric Levin:250 stores on that small island, and the fans are just like, I couldn't get my Pete Lewis. This is Shrek. You know? It's like,
Tara:oh god.
Eric Levin:You know? And I'm answering the emails like, well, shit, do the math.
Natalie:Funny. You
Eric Levin:know? She made a 1,000 units in their 250 stores. Were you 1st in line, 4th in line? It's the same thing here. You know, people wanna know when to line up, and it's like, well, before the person that wants the record that you want.
Eric Levin:This this year, Sabrina Carpenter is one of the biggest, most citable record, and, I think criminal records ordered 60, and we got 1. And now we're like,
Tara:what do
Eric Levin:you do with 1? You know? Because every kid in line is gonna want 1.
Tara:I have no idea who that even is.
Eric Levin:Well, it's just last year's or this year's Olivia Taylor. Or the year before's Taylor Swift.
Tara:Yeah. I mean, actually, what I have questions about that. What are you how do I how do I say this in a way that isn't scandalous. What are your thoughts on those big artists that get priority pressing sometimes for record store day over, like, indie bands that maybe had wanted to release their albums around record store day? Do you have
Eric Levin:Currently, it's a myth.
Natalie:Is it? Oh, okay.
Eric Levin:Misreporting propagate I mean, there was a time during the pandemic that it was difficult to source wax vinyl pellets, and, there were production issues, but it wasn't a Dell printing 12,000,000. Those were already contracted and, you know, Sony buys, you know, the number of vinyl. So they they can do Beyonce's Cowboy Carter and not have it do their pipeline because they got 20 presses rolling on cowboy carder. Same thing with Taylor, that comes out the day before record store day this year. You know, she's got that record.
Eric Levin:I've already ordered a 190 in this week. She, her label announced that, okay, you MD record stores can have the 3 colored variants that have a bonus track each. They let us know yet like Tuesday of the day, you know, so we don't even I already ordered a 190 of the regular version, which is still a really cool color. It's like a Yeah. Opaque white For most stores, mine mine, assuredly, it's the money outlay.
Eric Levin:That's tough. Because you're it's still a gamble. So anybody gonna come to your party And
Tara:Yeah.
Eric Levin:You know, you spent a mint on it. But if you ask for the, crowded space at the, pressing plants, I can get a record turned around in 6 weeks. Any indie band can. There are indie dedicated pressing plants. There are women owned and women only plants, which is such a new and cool thing.
Tara:That is cool. I didn't know that was a thing.
Eric Levin:There's a whole organization called Women in Vinyl that records today
Tara:I've seen that.
Eric Levin:Sponsors. They're doing great work from DJs to stores to vinyl pressing. The market is so much bigger now and international. Canada is very easy to to get pressings, but so is the US. There's lots of capacity.
Tara:Cool. Well, speaking of records to our day, I'm really curious what your picks are. Sometimes when we have friends in the store, we play this thing called the high fidelity game, where we rank a top 5, whatever music themed something. Would you be down to play with us today?
Eric Levin:Absolutely.
Tara:Awesome.
Eric Levin:The the real fun part of the day is, is when your boyfriend, Sean,
Tara:and I,
Eric Levin:who works at my store, are
Tara:Our competition. Just kidding.
Eric Levin:In front of the customers, like, just pulling things off the shelves with them, helping them find things, running outside to say, oh, I'm sorry. We ran out of that. You know? We only got 10. Sorry.
Eric Levin:We'll take down your name and number to see if we can find it next week from another store or, you know, all of the things we do. And it's the first four hours are pretty exhausting. And then, Porschean has to join 2 bands on stage starting in 2, which are great. He, he helped us buy these records and, is helping me sell them.
Tara:He's he's a good one for sure.
Eric Levin:Well, we need to get you some more T shirts.
Tara:Oh, yeah. More t shirts, more records. Hook me up. Well okay. So I'd love to know what your top 5 record store day 24 picks are.
Tara:Do you wanna go first? We'll take turns.
Eric Levin:Okay. Yeah. Well, my first one is fun boy 3. Terry Hall's second band, after the specials. This collection is amazing.
Eric Levin:It's the it's all the extended 12 inch releases, a sides and b sides. It's never been on vinyl before, and I've collected those records since they came out in the eighties. To have them all in one package, one program is very exciting.
Tara:You know what? I gotta say, I feel like I must have totally skimmed over that one in the list. I don't remember seeing that one because I don't have it in mind, and I feel like I need it in my list.
Eric Levin:Well, Terry Hall, we lost him 2 years ago. It was heartbreaking.
Tara:Yeah.
Eric Levin:He's definitely in the Mount Rushmore of UK, eighties new wave. So to celebrate him with this release is pretty exciting.
Tara:Yeah. Well, my number 5 record is nightmares on wax, car boot. It is the 25th anniversary of this release. Nightmares on wax is George Evelyn, and it originally was a group consisting of George, Evelyn, and John Halman, and then also later Kevin Harper. But George Herbert Evelyn is an English DJ and record producer.
Tara:And, yeah, he's been nightmares on wax for a while. And Car Boot Soul is the 3rd studio album by nightmares on wax and was released in 1999. But I think it's kinda perfect because the original album was issued had, like, a special issue with cigarette papers, rolling papers in 1999. So I think it's kinda perfect to be reissued again on 4:20 for record store day and also includes an exclusive 7 inch with 2 unreleased songs. So that's pretty awesome.
Tara:And it's also in collaboration with Dale Assault.
Natalie:Nice. I'm
Tara:pretty excited about it. Yeah.
Eric Levin:Very cool.
Tara:Very cool.
Natalie:Actually, I have a question that's interesting. You mentioned the cigarette papers or whatever. But, for you, Eric, and also you, Tara, I love, like, the the subcultures that kind of have these crossovers, you know, with music lovers. And I know comic books, you know, is a really popular one and gaming and movies and things like that. What is the coolest additional collectible that you've seen packaged in one of these releases?
Eric Levin:Wow. Over the years?
Natalie:Yeah.
Tara:I
Eric Levin:mean, the originals Cheech and Chong Big Bamboo came with a album sized rolling paper. Even as a kid, I knew that was special.
Natalie:That's awesome.
Eric Levin:But KISS Love Gun came with a pop out cardboard love gun that you could play with. And, I've got over the years, Alice Cooper, had a pair of panties instead of an inner sleeve, for school layout. The fun thing is when these things still are in there when you get them in used.
Natalie:Yeah.
Eric Levin:It was always, Steve Martin's wild and crazy guy. It came with a a picture of him with his white suit and a fish sticking out of his lapel, and he signed it best fishes, And you'll pretty much see one of those in every record store bathroom in America, if not the world.
Natalie:That's funny. I'm gonna have to keep my eye out for that now. That's that's great.
Tara:I always hear about the cool things that I but I never get them. I'm not ever too lucky to get any of those cool versions. But I did recently just get that box set, Alice in Chains, box set. And it's got like a jar of flies in it that has a light on the cap, and then you can put it inside those boxes itself. And it looks like it's like a diorama that looks like a child from within looking through the jar, and it's got flies sort of on the front.
Tara:It's very, very well done. I love it.
Eric Levin:There have been some really bad choices over the years. There was a from the nineties grunge era. Rhino Records did a pack that was sealed plastic sealed with coffee beans. And if you find them now, they're disgusting.
Tara:Oh, yeah.
Eric Levin:And they brought in.
Tara:Oh, wasn't there a a new order record with, like, blood in it or something? Is that New Order?
Eric Levin:Slayer did a blood filled record. I don't know.
Natalie:It makes more sense.
Eric Levin:Yeah. It does make more sense. I don't know. I'm a pretty big new order completest. I don't remember them.
Eric Levin:Prove me wrong.
Tara:What was that? I don't know which one it was. Oh, well, it was somebody who had, like, blood in the packaging or something like that.
Natalie:I don't remember.
Eric Levin:And Factory Records, new orders, label, they had a band named Darudey Collum, and their records came packaged, in sandpaper, which was really a fuck you.
Tara:Yeah. You have to be very careful with that one too. Yeah.
Eric Levin:You gotta your vinyl. You can't ever find them clean.
Tara:Oh, yeah.
Eric Levin:So I had the vinyl the best pull ever. Cassette. The Casale was like, who cares?
Tara:It's funny. I love Darude Collin, though. Good choice.
Eric Levin:Me too.
Tara:Oh, but speaking of, like, maybe that same vibe, more nineties. Did you Criminal Records called Eric's trip or something like that before?
Eric Levin:That's the name of my corporation.
Tara:Nineties and their 1st debut album.
Eric Levin:I know I love them, but it's after Sonic Youth, Daydream Nation.
Tara:Which is also one of my absolute favorite bands of all time. Yeah. We talk about them all the time in this store. Well, so it's your turn. What's your number 4?
Eric Levin:Probably not a big surprise considering, my tastes. English beats second record will happen. Just a monster record for me in my youth, not my youth today. You know, it's still, you know, front and center in my lobe. And this one is packaged with, you know, a beautiful remaster, not a useless remaster and not a modern remaster, just a real cleanup job.
Eric Levin:Sonically, it sounds amazing and an incredible second l b that's just b sides and extended mixes and live tracks. I just I've always, as time has gone on, I was always bummed out in the early days of my store that only, like, the hippie rock bands got preferential treatment, box sets, and archival goodness, and I was just, where's my where's New Order? Where's Joy Division? Where you know, where's the stuff that I love? Getting the Deluxe cases.
Natalie:It could've been
Eric Levin:that era.
Tara:I'll just
Eric Levin:end it. To me, the second will be better. Deluxe the second group you
Tara:ever gave me.
Eric Levin:The last time it's just my number one.
Tara:I've seen them live. They're really good live. They sound exactly like the record. I mean, not exact, but really close.
Eric Levin:I miss ranking Roger and Saxa, but I am excited that they are signing this record at my friend's store, Cactus, in Houston, Texas.
Natalie:Cool.
Eric Levin:Didn't have to be my own store. I'd probably go try and meet Dave Wakelin.
Tara:Okay. My next choice is not a singular band or artist. It's a soundtrack, and it's probably not the best pick. I don't know if it's the best pick, but I'm excited about it because I do love this soundtrack. I'm excited to actually have it on vinyl If I can get my hands on it, it is lost in translation.
Tara:And lost in translation, as you know, is a movie that came out in 2003, Sofia Coppola movie. And, of course, in true Sofia Coppola fashion, it's very moody, has songs from My Bloody Valentine, Jesus and Mary Jane, Kevin Shields from My Bloody Valentine, Square Pusher, Air, the most moody French band of all time probably, and also includes a bonus LP that includes the some additional songs that were included in the film, but not actually on the original soundtrack from Peaches and Chemical Brothers and of course, that famous karaoke scene. So I'm very excited to have that one.
Eric Levin:We ordered a ton.
Tara:Oh, good.
Eric Levin:I'm sure that'll end up in my lower fifteen if there's any leftover. It's, it's a gorgeous Sweden music.
Tara:It really is. It's a it's a good good choice selection of songs. Alright. What's your next one?
Eric Levin:I'm actually not going out on any limb. People who have been forced to listen to my selection of music knows that I'm a sucker for the, shouty, beady, dreamy, girly pop. This artist, I don't know where she's from. I don't know her story. Ashnikko.
Eric Levin:I heard new album
Tara:on the kill.
Eric Levin:It was just a menu from start to finish. Like Charlie xX or Olivia Rodrigo. It's just wonder. Girl discovery. This is her mixtape that came out prior, and I like all mixtapes.
Eric Levin:How can a record store owner say it came out if it was just on the Internet? I mean, it's something I listened to and liked, but if I can't sell it, it's not a record. And, so this is the first time this is on vinyl. And it's just, I haven't seen it yet. I've only seen a picture of it, but it's transparent pink, one of those echo records, which is really cool.
Eric Levin:It's got a sleek mirror board, silver sleeve, and she's the future. I just can't wait to have this piece in my collection.
Tara:I don't
Natalie:know this person. Yeah. I've never heard this name before. Can you give us a sounds like a and b kinda thing?
Eric Levin:Oh, she's definitely part of, Sophie's
Tara:computer music thing.
Eric Levin:Yeah. Charli XCX again, Sky Ferrera.
Tara:Mhmm.
Eric Levin:Oh, god. Why can't I name all my favorite women?
Tara:That's a good list you've already listed there. It kinda seems, Natalie, like this would be up your alley.
Natalie:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you're you're you're speaking my language for sure, and she looks super cool. Yeah. I'm excited to check this out.
Eric Levin:Oh, it's very boys disappoint me, but girls don't vibe.
Natalie:Okay. I feel like that. I've been there. Yeah.
Eric Levin:Filthy naughty. You know, I'm just like, oh, oh my. You know? It's like, who girls shouldn't be talking like that? You know?
Eric Levin:Uh-huh. But, I mean, that's or rather, I've never heard girls talk like that. I'm showing my age.
Natalie:Sweet. I'll check her out.
Eric Levin:Yeah. If I had That's why
Tara:I like peaches.
Eric Levin:Yep. If I had a daughter, I would, like, hope that she would be an Ashnikko fan.
Natalie:Oh, that's cool. That's high praise for Ashnikko.
Tara:Yeah. That's true. Okay. Well, my next one is Dean and Britta Laventura. 1st vinyl release of this pressing or this, album.
Tara:So, yeah, it's Dean and Britta, musical duo consisting of Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips, both members of Luna. And Dean Wareham actually formed Luna in 1991 after he left his first band, Galaxy 500. So he's been in, like, some of the coolest bands ever. And then Britta Phillips, who was I had the album was released in 2003. And I had the CD.
Tara:So, again, I am very excited to have it on vinyl. Hopefully, I can get my hands on this one. But what's also exciting about this record store day release is that it comes with a bonus LP, which contains the other, EPs from them, Sonic Souvenirs and Words You Used to Say. So also both of those are on vinyl for the first time. So you're getting essentially 3 albums in 1, all never been pressed to vinyl before.
Tara:So this is very special and has some super cool covers, Madonna song, Buffy Saint Marie song, and Silver Jews, which, RIP, Berman.
Eric Levin:I believe there's an Atlantic connection for Dean or Britta.
Tara:Oh, really?
Eric Levin:I would urge your customers to look up a, editorial that, Dean did this year, or last year about the royalty rates from Spotify and other streaming services. It's very eye opening. He makes a plea to buy for people to buy his stuff physically, because he's not making any money streaming.
Natalie:Oh, god.
Eric Levin:So to have this cut, you know, from them, is is very exciting.
Tara:But, I mean, how much of a cut would they really get? Because my friend was in the band, the Judy Bats, which, you know, there was a release not too long ago for Record store day, but I think they still owe their label so much money from when they got signed back in the nineties that they just don't ever get any cut from it. And in fact, he had trouble finding a copy of his own, which is sad.
Eric Levin:Well, yeah. I mean, a lot of the music I like is major label. A lot of the music I like is pure indie. It's hard to get hard to get money out of any of those people.
Tara:Yeah.
Eric Levin:I mean, the contracts are, were, and historically bad. I mean, they're
Tara:It's a bummer.
Eric Levin:Labels don't make money by giving artists money. No, it's tragic. Yeah. It needs to be addressed along with the royalties from streaming.
Tara:Mhmm. Definitely.
Eric Levin:And that's actually the crux of Dean's article is that he's talking about. Why am I doing this for Paul and Eddie? Because he's an artist. Mhmm.
Natalie:I'm wondering if how intensely the music industry and the whole landscape has shifted. Has that had any impact on, you know, how you think about the trajectory of your businesses and of the future of Record Store Day?
Eric Levin:There's a term in the record industry called a 3 60 deal.
Natalie:Mhmm.
Eric Levin:Which basically means that the labels are controlling every aspect of an artist's work from merchandise to direct to consumer marketing, to cuts of their live shows, stuff that was usually offhand, stuff that was usually the stuff bands made money on. Well, you know, if you sign to a major record label, I mean, it's exciting. I've tried to get bands I love to get signed by labels. And, you know, even though I look at contracts and go, god, this part sucks, this part sucks. I'm not a lawyer, but this is not right.
Eric Levin:And it's just the oldest story.
Tara:Mhmm.
Eric Levin:Yeah. How how does it affect my businesses?
Natalie:Yeah. Or just your your outlook on your activities, if at all. Maybe it doesn't, you know.
Eric Levin:I do local consignment. I purchase stuff outright. I provide a stage for local artists and for touring artists. I give away tickets to shows, and help promote them. All this is gratis, and this is part part of what any good record store should be doing.
Eric Levin:And, politically, I don't fight with labels because my dog's not in that fight. I tried to get I tried to do criminal records, the label from the nineties through about 2015, and, it hurt my soul so much. None of my artists, all I thought all were wonderful, ever did made anything or any that's a failure. Something I'm always deeply troubled by.
Tara:That's a bummer, but, it is you should consider it still an accomplishment that you've, you know, done or tried to do, I would say.
Eric Levin:I've got accomplishments filling up my warehouse.
Tara:Oh, gosh. Well, on that note, let's talk about filling up your record shelves.
Eric Levin:Yes.
Tara:What's your next pick?
Eric Levin:There's a band with an Atlantic connection called Come, though. Definitely, they were international. Feli Zadig and Chris Brokaw, their drummer, Arthur Johnson, is from Atlanta. Still lives here. It's quintessential outsider nineties.
Eric Levin:It rocks, but it's rumming and shoegazy and pained, and largely unavailable for many, many years now, decades now. But, man, that was a record that we played probably 3 or 4 times every day in Criminal Records. It's so nostalgic. And this one is I only ever had the CD. I don't there's no reason why.
Eric Levin:But for me, this was just in the car, in the store, constant replay. So this has the 9 original tracks are extended, including, the first single, which was never on, well, never on the CD or vinyl, and the flip side of the Rolling Stones, I Got the Blues, which is cool to have on one continuous album. And then I like this. I love when records have, download links for something special inside. Because I like my digital music too.
Eric Levin:So with this, you also get, them live at the At the Vermin Stress Festival of 92, which is when they were just at the peak of their power. And I think anybody likes Queens of the Stone Age or Slothrust or Chuck, just any of that juicy stone or rock, usually the progenitors.
Tara:Juicy stone or rock. Yeah. Perfect for 420. You know, I've never heard of this before, but, I mean, it's on the, record store day site says it's acclaimed by dinosaur juniors, Jay Mascus, Husker Du's Bob Mould, and Kurt Cobain. And this is, like, right up my alley too.
Tara:I am Yeah. A nineties girly.
Eric Levin:Oh, get this one. Move this to the top of your list.
Tara:I guess I need to. Yeah.
Natalie:My interest is peaked as well. So if if I wanted to introduce myself to the sound, is there, like, a track I should start with, an album I should start with?
Eric Levin:This one, I mean, put on, put it on. I mean, I
Natalie:What's what's the song?
Eric Levin:I don't think I could name a song. It's an album.
Natalie:Oh, okay.
Eric Levin:It was where I just
Natalie:No skips.
Eric Levin:Yeah. Lyrically, it's not there's nothing there's not a vocal that catches reaches out to me. It's just, how cool. Come.
Tara:Sweet. Cool. I'm definitely gonna check that out. See, I'm learning things. I'm learning things.
Tara:Well, appropriate that that was a nineties one because I got another nineties band for you. And this one, get ready to hear me ramble because, again, you could probably guess what it is. It's Sonic Youth. Let's be real. Perfect.
Tara:Sonic Youth, hits are for squares. Actually, this was created for Starbucks, essentially, this compilation of all of these songs that sort of maybe the the hits, if you will, the things that the squares could listen to that aren't going to scare them away from listening to Sonic Youth. And it was created because and similar to record store day, maybe a little bit is that whole, like, declining of record record stores because of digital media and Napster and faster Internet and, you know, yada yada yada. Same old story. But they also wanted to just kind of expand their audience.
Tara:So Sonic Youth was out there trying to do some marketing a little bit, and they originally were gonna have Starbucks release rather ripped, but it was just, like, needed to go through too much approval, and it was just taking too much time. So they came up with this compilation, which was actually curated. The songs were curated by a bunch of really cool people like Mike d from Beastie Boys, Radiohead, Portia de Rossi, Dave Eggers, the writer, Mike Watt, Eddie Vedder, Gus Van Sant, Chloe Segni, and Flaming Lips. So oh, and Flea, of course. So really cool that that was how some of the songs were chosen.
Tara:And I I feel like Thurston was really smart here because he was essentially saying, like, Sonic Youth is a brand name. Like, everybody knows this band, Sonic Youth, but not everyone's actually listened to the music of Sonic Youth. So let's put this shit in Starbucks and see how it goes. Kinda smart though. Right?
Tara:A 1,000 copies of the album were printed as CDs that you could buy at star at your local Starbucks, but the album was also made for digital download. And then in 2010, it was reissued for Record Store Day. And so now it's for the first time again reissued since 2010. So this record store day 2024, it's going to be pressed on gold nugget vinyl with gold foil jacket. So fancy.
Tara:I'm very excited.
Eric Levin:Well, I have to I hate to rain on the parade, but you have to imagine you're a punk rock record store in the nineties
Tara:Oh, yeah.
Eric Levin:Who only drinks indie coffee and whose corporation is named after a Sonic Youth shop, and you couldn't have this CD. You weren't allowed to sell it.
Tara:Right. I don't have it on CD. And I have every studio album made by Sonic Youth. I have almost every SYR, I think, and I have everyone's solo stuff, but I don't have this CD.
Eric Levin:I definitely gave Thurston on many, visits hung one time of his many visits, grief about it. So he took it. He took it right. I'm sure why wasn't the 1st record store owner who tsk tsked.
Tara:Or anyone, yeah.
Eric Levin:He's got a good soul and a good heart. So
Tara:Actually, I just saw him performing live on stage, an improv set with John Paul Jones.
Eric Levin:Wow.
Tara:It was it it was insane. It was crazy.
Eric Levin:That reminds me of a story, and I don't know how long you until your store closes, but, I happen to be at Bonnaroo, and I was the guest on Dave Matthews' bus for some reason.
Tara:Oh, interesting.
Eric Levin:Probably that's where the weed was, if I recall. And, we were playing the high fidelity game and, debut records best songs. And, the gentleman on one of the bunks, after we played for a few minutes, said, oh, what about my band? And it was John Paul Jones.
Tara:What? Yeah. No way.
Natalie:Yeah. That's crazy.
Eric Levin:It was a very funny line. He got a big laugh. Of course, everybody was laughing on that bus.
Tara:I'm sure. That's that's amazing. Also, Bonnaroo is a Ashley Capps production, and I saw Thurston Moore and John Paul Jones at, Big Ears Fest, which is also an Ashley Capps production. Knoxville.
Eric Levin:Right on. There's a wonderful bunch of record stores in Tennessee as well, so it's
Tara:Yeah.
Eric Levin:Fun state to hop around.
Tara:Yeah. Wait. What's your favorite Tennessee record store?
Eric Levin:I love Grimy's.
Tara:Oh, yeah. Nashville. Nice.
Eric Levin:But, I can't there's a new Knoxville store, not new. They're about 10 years old now.
Tara:Magnolia?
Eric Levin:I thought it had dog in the name. I visited a bunch in Knoxville just because that's what you do when you go to a new city, and I wasn't disappointed with any of them.
Natalie:Yeah. That's cool. I have a question for you, Eric. So we're talking about locations and participating record stores, for Record Store Day. Is there and maybe there's not really an answer to this question, but is there a city or a country whose participation in Record Store Day kinda shocked you where you thought, oh, wow, this thing really has scale?
Eric Levin:My favorite thing is when record stores make records and, you know, live at Shakin Records, live at Grimes. He's had dozens of releases for record store day. Saint Louis record store owner Papa Ray releases these deep archival reggae releases, that are just impeccable, truly better than any uncaring label could put together. This year's record store day piece from them is, Ika Maus, which isn't on my list because he's given me one. But also Jackpot in Portland.
Eric Levin:They do the coolest stuff, and they've got 4 releases coming out, this year, and all of them are compelling. They're difficult. They're like zombie rock and psychedelic blues, you know, stuff that's not my forte, but he also gives them to me as well. And, they're always perfect. They're always just like lost treasure and beautifully mastered and beautifully printed.
Eric Levin:So, yeah, anytime like I mentioned the Secret Buying Group, It's kinda it's a gift. You know? If a record store makes a record, then it's a record store IPs, and we're all giving it our attention.
Tara:You know, I just had a a thought while you were saying that, and you mentioned Portland. But our friend of the store, Scott Leeds, just released this book that you might be interested in. It's called Schrader's Chord, and it's it's kind of a horror horror and music book. It's very Stephen King esque, but, it's about these, like, forbidden records that this guy is gifted in his dad's will, and it they're kind of like haunted or cursed. That's all we'll say, but it's also there's part of the plot is that the dad owned a record store.
Eric Levin:Oh.
Tara:And they sort of play this cursed record in the record store, and there's a lot of talk about Big Star and other bands. And there's it seems like it has an amazing soundtrack for a book. You know what I mean? We're hoping one day this will be a movie and there will be an official soundtrack, but you should definitely check out this book. I feel like you would like it.
Natalie:It's got a lot of fun Easter eggs for music aficionados. Yeah. I think you'd appreciate it.
Eric Levin:There aren't many record store based books I haven't read. So
Natalie:Add
Tara:that one to your list.
Eric Levin:I will.
Tara:There's also an accompanying playlist if you're very curious.
Eric Levin:That sounds
Tara:great. That I'm thinking about it, it could be really cool as a comic book series as well, kind of like, not paper boys, but, what's Blue Monday, the comic book that always references all the songs. And, of course, Scott Pilgrim Saves the World has the songs listed usually. Yeah. Super cool.
Tara:Anyways, side tracking us there. I think it's your turn. Right?
Eric Levin:It's my turn?
Natalie:This is the The number one ticks?
Eric Levin:The last of the 5
Tara:Yeah.
Eric Levin:Is the meat puppets.
Tara:Oh, snap.
Eric Levin:Talk about nineties psychedelic weed based, memory based. This was recorded in 1988 in, their hometown in Montana, and they've just always been one of my favorite bands. They did a in store criminal records that was an out store. They played in front, and this was 91, one of my first biggest in stores. And, they were on an old festival called the Horde Tour, and they were just kinda the 2 o'clock band.
Eric Levin:Didn't really get a good crowd response, didn't have fun. So the label guy said, you know, I'm sure Eric would love for you to play in the store. And it was a beautiful, beautiful day in Little Five Points, and there was a really good acid going around, that's very plentiful and, you know, dogs and kids and carriages and, you know, punk rockers and hippies. And it was it was a real scene. And, you know, they thought in store, you know, 3 songs, 3 to 4 songs, and then we're out.
Eric Levin:But it was so cool. I watched a police officer pull up in front of them drive by, and, I could see he was shaking his head, you know, the window's down. He was kinda shaking his head, grooving for, you know, probably 30 seconds. And he drove on, and the crowd went wild. Just like
Tara:Oh my gosh.
Eric Levin:Super cool. And it was just, you know, Kirk Kirk would look at me, and I was like, dough. Dough, man, go. And, it ended up being just a righteous long jam. So good.
Tara:That's amazing. That's awesome.
Eric Levin:Yeah. To hear this record, double album live, far out, man. Right on.
Tara:Yeah. What do you like most about owning an Orchid store? Is it those moments, things like that?
Eric Levin:Those are great memories. I mean, I've I've made wonderful connections that have lasted forever. You know, it is like, when you see the nurse walk in, it's like, hey, how are you? Chris Morris from Circle Jerks came in the other day and asked for me, and I was like, oh, wow. Cool.
Eric Levin:You know, just Wow. You know, he was in town with Serval Jerks and, you know, I've known him for years, since the eighties. And, yeah, I've mentioned weed a lot. I am sober now, but I was also an Amsterdam record store guy with in Atlanta, we go we can visit. So that was Yeah.
Eric Levin:Always fun.
Natalie:That is fun. Good memories.
Tara:Yeah. I'm down to my last pick.
Natalie:Well, Tara, I'm I'm eager for this one because I'm not shocked to hear Sonic Youth make your list, but I'm shocked they weren't number 1. So I know. Right? Who could possibly top them?
Tara:And it's not the fact that it's this group that has made it the number one. I think it's the fact that record store day is giving this is providing this to the public because it's not been released in so long. And that's why it's on the top of my list because it's such a special release, I guess. And that is actually, Natalie, you I know I'm just gonna, like, keep dragging this out, but you're gonna like this one because we've talked about this one in the store before with Rachel Hayden.
Natalie:Oh, yeah.
Tara:The roaches, their debut album.
Natalie:That's great.
Tara:It's their 45th anniversary of their debut album. The roaches are American vocal trio of sisters, Maggie, Terry, Susie Roche from Park Ridge, New Jersey, but is also produced by Robert Fripp, who plays guitar and, a version of his Frippertronix, which we've also talked about in our our tech convos, our music history convos about looping. So very cool. This record, again, it's it's 45th anniversary, and it's the first US LP reissue in 40 years. 40 years.
Tara:That's crazy. And it's gonna be on ruby red vinyl, which is so fun. Yeah. It's it's really just that, that the fact that it's 45th anniversary and first US reissue in 40 years. It just feels special
Natalie:Wow.
Tara:For a a cult classic album like this. I mean, back in the day 1979, Rolling Stone gave it 5 stars and New York Times called the best pop record of 1979, but you don't never really hear anyone talking about the roaches, you know, so Well I'm excited about it.
Natalie:Obligatory shout out to the Animaniacs, of course. Right. Which is, like, how I discovered them, and it's still my favorite band discovery of all time. That's super cool.
Tara:The Animaniacs. Yeah. The cartoon roaches sisters. And it was them, actually. What didn't it be great?
Tara:Them.
Natalie:Yeah. Yeah. I love that. In 91.
Eric Levin:That was a hard record to order. It's like Oh. Because the younger staff who have their opinions had no idea. And then the older staff are like, oh, man, gotta have at least 30.
Natalie:Oh, gosh.
Eric Levin:Yeah. And it's that was pretty uneven split where, like, no. We just buy more Taylor. Like, no. Sell the roaches to Taylor's fans.
Tara:Yeah. We played the high fidelity game with Rachel Hayden of that dog. We talked about bands or groups that had siblings in them, and this was on her list, I believe. So it was a fun conversation with her. I'm gonna get that one for sure.
Natalie:Excellent. That's super cool. That leads to another question. And, you know, I'm kinda kinda new to this game, so, hopefully, I can ask it in a way that makes sense. But is there a record for the both of you that has eluded you for years, for decades, that you would love to see love to see a reissue for, or maybe there's something that you've never seen in the wild that you would it would just be your dream discovery, your dream pick.
Tara:Guys, I have a list of them, on my phone saved. I really do.
Natalie:Just in case. Right?
Tara:Yeah. So, Eric, if you ever need any suggestions for record store day releases, just let me know if we ever need any stuff that's probably not very popular for nerdy people like us that haven't been issued. Really? I'll send it to you. Yeah.
Tara:Yeah. I mean, like, the features, for example, they're an East Tennessee band, but they have a bunch of albums that are just CD only. And I don't think anyone would buy this except for me and maybe a couple of other people regionally, maybe. It's things like that that I miss. There's even like, the Super Jag, Regretfully Yours.
Tara:It's so hard to come by. It's so expensive. If there's anyone you can find that wants to sell it, I was a little bit like that with Alice in Chains Jar of Lies, but thank goodness they they reissued that one. So
Eric Levin:That was always a
Tara:So many.
Eric Levin:On the want list for sure.
Tara:Yeah. Ben Folds 5, whatever and ever amen. I had that one on my want list forever from Discogs, and it was always like $200 or more. They just had a reissue, and I preordered it. So hopefully that comes in May.
Tara:Yeah. I have Very cool. A massive list.
Natalie:I know you're not tired. Yeah.
Eric Levin:I've asked Warner Brothers for years now to make Talking Heads Stop Making Sense came out in a Robert Rauschenberg package. It was clear vinyl when nobody was making see through vinyl, and Robert had 3 pieces of film, yellow, blue, and red, with his imagery as part of the this big plastic package that, he did before the release. And every single one you see now is brittle and yellow. You can barely touch them because they've all barked. And my suggestion to Warner Brothers was just make the package.
Eric Levin:There are enough records out there that people I'd buy that for $30 just to put my old record in.
Natalie:Yeah. That's interesting. Yeah.
Eric Levin:And that's BSMART history. See, I think that's the job of Record Store Day, to really do cool things like that. Yeah. The 3 inch records that, we've been doing in Japan, this year, there's, the Beatles and, Metro Boomin', Spider Man branded turntables and little records. Like, okay.
Eric Levin:Awesome. That might be gimmicky and too expensive for some customers, but I wanna measure boom and turntable on my desk.
Tara:I mean so in the eighties, I remember getting an ALF record. It was just like cardboard that had grooves on it from, like, as some sort of Happy Meal situation, not a Happy Meal because that's McDonald's, but it was I'm pretty sure it was Arby's or Hardee's or something like that. Yeah. And it was ALF. Like, what?
Tara:I wish we had more things like that.
Natalie:Like, those little special ALF. Arby's had, like, the really wacky kids' meals prices.
Tara:It felt like it should be Arby's. It feels like it's Arby's. It might yeah. 1 of the 2. Hardee's, Arby's.
Tara:It rhymes, those 2. Yeah.
Eric Levin:We've got something really coming out, really cool coming out in Atlanta that, you'll have to next time in the store, I'll have to tell you about it. Oh. It's it's it's right up there with an ALF Arby's record.
Tara:Nice. Okay.
Eric Levin:Even better.
Natalie:Oh, man.
Eric Levin:Well, in in Atlanta institution, they're making about 10,007 inches to give away to their fans. So it's a big promotion, but they have to announce it first. There's a little sneak peek.
Natalie:Oh, stay tuned. Well, I am really excited about both of your lists. I've learned a lot. I've got some some things to listen to, some old things to revisit. I wanna hear what you guys have on your list for, like, honorable mentions.
Natalie:What things didn't make the top 5? What about you, Eric?
Eric Levin:Well, I thought I was picking 10. So my next 5 are easy ending with my truly the number one release that I hope to get. But The Replacements Live works out perfectly with all my other replacements records, which is all the other replacements records. These guys were running a noun from putting on horrible shows and were wonderful shows. So my guess is this will be a wonderful one.
Eric Levin:The Talking Heads Live is the extended version of Talking Heads 77. So okay. And they played more songs on that epic 2 album set, so that's that's a must have. The various sort of jazz dispensary, like the replacements, I've got every other jazz dispensary release, and they're pretty much perfect and perfect for 420. The first album by Electra Fiction, which is Ian McCullough and, Will Sargent from Echo and the Bunnyman.
Eric Levin:Never before on LPE. I love them. I don't think I've heard it in 25 years. So, that's a must have. And just one of the greatest people I've ever met, just a beautiful soul, beautiful person, Kristin Hersh's first solo record, Gibson Makers.
Eric Levin:First time on vinyl, beautiful package again, but just if it reminds me of her in my short time hanging out with her, then it'll be wonderful.
Tara:So she's actually on my list too. She's from Atlanta. Did you know that? No. I only just learned that.
Tara:She's from Atlanta, born in Grady, I think, but now she lives in Louisiana, of course. I just saw her live at Big Ears also. It was just her acoustic set. It was beautiful. It was amazing.
Tara:Yeah. Her voice is, like, one of a kind. I mean, a little bit like Sam Phillips too, but I love her voice so much. And, of course, nineties throwing muses, love them so much. Yeah.
Tara:So, yeah, I'm excited to get that one. Another one is probably I'm probably gonna get the cure top even though I get very annoyed with all the picture discs that they always put out for records today. Like, why does it have to be a picture disc, please?
Eric Levin:But I don't disagree. They're expensive, and Ugh. At least they sound better than the old picture discs.
Tara:That's true. They're so hard to see, though, if I'm, like, trying to actually DJ with them.
Eric Levin:Yep.
Tara:But I love the Curacao. I'll get it anyways. The slits in the beginning will be super cool. And this is so silly, but I have the Dazed and Confused soundtrack already on vinyl, and I so I have to have the even more Dazed and Confused 30th anniversary release. And then
Eric Levin:That's not funny at all.
Tara:Yeah. Is it not okay? Another one probably perfect for 420. I mean, there's so many I have on my list, but I don't know what I'll really boil it down to, the Everything But The Girl.
Eric Levin:Oh, those are great. I could I got a digital preview of that.
Tara:Oh, it's good.
Eric Levin:It's so good.
Tara:Okay. Well, then you've sold me on that one. Hopefully, Criminal Records has enough copies to go around.
Eric Levin:We ordered up on that because I had heard it.
Tara:And Oh, good.
Eric Levin:Yeah. Another record, sir, on her friend, out of Indianapolis at Luna Music is, like, vacation buddies with them.
Tara:Oh, wow.
Eric Levin:Hey. You know? Check this out. It was, like, a year ago, and I was like, oh, I think that might be a record for the piece. He's like
Tara:I'm sorry. What? How can you be vacation buddies with Tracy Thorne? I can I? A k
Natalie:a how can we be vacation buddies with Tracy Thorne? That's the question.
Eric Levin:Ben Watt. I mean, I'm, you know We're
Tara:Ben Watt. For sure.
Eric Levin:We all have buddies, you know. He has done enough for them. He released early stuff on his label.
Tara:Yeah. Schoology d, Saturday Night, the first final reissue of that.
Eric Levin:Bookie Down Productions. Edutainment. One of the most important hip hop records of all time.
Tara:That's super cool.
Eric Levin:And it's a double. You get a spread out sounding fine.
Tara:Nice. I mean, there's a bunch, but those are, I guess, the highlights of my shortlist.
Natalie:Cool. Cool. Well, I know you mentioned a little bit of this earlier, Eric, but can you let the folks in the store know what to expect if they come out to hang out for record store day? What else can they expect?
Eric Levin:Well, per usual, we printed up 500 for the first 500 people, obviously, of our Ronnie Land designed tote bag, and, it's gorgeous this year. And we have tons and tons of, giveaways and really well, the theme of the day, the theme of the entire month is a tribute to Dexter Bromweber who recently passed. He's the founder of the Flat Duo Jets and a stalwart Southern gentleman, amazing performer, touched a lot of lives, and affected a lot of musicians. And first and foremost, Sean Marshall of Cap Power who taped a lot of her early stuff just from his influence. Sean was in town doing her Dylan tribute, the day when Dexter passed away and, she had a bit of a wake in her home with local musicians impromptu playing, Texas songs.
Eric Levin:That led to a tribute at the IRRRL on 25th which we just wanted to promote. Like, we would do an in store for any anybody's main performance. This is, 10 bands doing their preview sets for that show, and we'll have tickets for the show and giveaways. But we also have the really cool raffle prizes, that we'll do oh, actually, not raffle, auction. Sound on auction.
Eric Levin:And we got a full arcade machine that, like, I I just started asking label and distribute our friends. So we got this arcade machine. REM sent a surprise package, all this cool archival stuff and patches.
Natalie:What?
Eric Levin:We got a Def Jam box set that's like 8 LPs and a turntable flip up lid and t shirts, And the prices are still rolling in. We got a Devo prize package
Tara:that
Eric Levin:I might bid on. It's so
Tara:sweet. Amazing.
Eric Levin:So, yeah, that's gonna be a and that was just when it came together and it came together perfectly, including 2 of Sean's bands. So we're gonna we're gonna use this drum kit for all 10 bands to get it set up.
Tara:Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Well, I'm very excited, and I will be in line very early that day. So, hopefully, I'll see you there.
Eric Levin:I will be there.
Natalie:Yeah. It's going to be a blast. It sounds like it's a celebration, really. Right? Just fun for the whole family, something for everybody.
Natalie:Just come out and support.
Tara:It's a party. Yeah. It's starting to get dark here. I think we should start closing up. What do you think, Natalie?
Natalie:Yeah. I think so. Eric, thank you so much. It's been an absolute honor that you would stop by on such a special day to chat with us for a bit. Thank you so much.
Eric Levin:Thank you all.
Tara:Yeah. Thank you. Maybe we could do this annually. Just rank our record store day picks.
Eric Levin:Very cool.
Tara:Yeah. Sweet. Cool. Okay. Well, yeah, I'm tired.
Tara:I'm gonna sign off. It's a wrap. Alright.
Natalie:Goodbye, everybody.
Tara:Bye. Congrats. You've made it to the end. Now let's see what some of the friends of the store have to say about what their top picks are.
Jayda Abello:Hey. This is Jada Abello here in Saint Petersburg, Florida, and the RSD releases I'm most excited about are Harmonia, Music Von Harmonia, anniversary edition, Mejor De Los Nuggets, Saiken Garage from Latin America, mister Bongo's latest Brazil 40 fives collection curated by DJ Coco, and last late, Soul Jazz Records reissue of their punk 45 comp, kill the hippies, kill yourself. Happy record store day.
Stuart Myerberg:My number one record store day pick is Kristen Hirsch's Hips and Makers. It's finally getting a vinyl reissue, and it includes all the b sides from the album along with the Strings EP. My second choice is Kate Bush's Eat the Music 10 inch. I don't really need yet another version of Eat the Music, but I can't resist a 10 inch vinyl and I can't resist a Kate Bush release.
Sean Zearfoss:This is Sean from Atlanta. My top RSD releases for this year include the television live at the academy release. This was taken in 92, and these songs are from, primarily from television's 3rd album. These songs have never been given the dude that they deserve, so I'm excited to have the final copy of this one. Next is the related Tom Verlaine box set of his first four solo albums.
Sean Zearfoss:This is the first time these have been re released, so I'm super excited for that set. Next is the Willie Nelson Phases and Stages release. This is honestly Willie at his best. It's a seventies release after he signed to Atlantic and kind of reignited his career. Finally, is Rain Parade's emergency 3rd rail power trip reissue.
Sean Zearfoss:This is really difficult to find in original format, and even the previous reissues are also difficult to find. So this Paisley Underground staple is one I'm very excited about.
Tara:Record Store Society is hosted by Natalie White and Tara Davies. If you'd like to contact the show, visit our website at record store society dot com, or you can find us on all your favorite social media sites with the handle at record store society.