Never A Silent Night

Oh Record Store Day…You are one of my favorite days of the year. A day when musicians and music lovers come together to celebrate music and independent record stores in a completely commercial way. I know that sounds bad, but I’m not knocking this day. It really is one of my favorites, its like having a simultaneous amazing music festival all over the US where only the people in the know show up and its completely free (besides the major coinage being dropped for the “Record Store Day” exclusive releases).

Today Seattle was rocking. Lines formed outside all the independent record stores participating, even the ones that had no “special guests” or free swag, just records and RSD releases. At some stores it got a little crazy with mass amounts of people trying to search for the find of the day. Some walked away disappointed but most walked away happy, most stores also had incentives like 10-20% off your purchases for the day (who wouldn’t be happy about that?). Then there was the craziness surrounding the “special” guests. Lots of musicians came out to celebrate. For some it was their record release (The Head and the Heart played two sets. One at Sonic Boom Records in Ballard and one at Easy Street Records in Queen Anne) and for others it was just to show support and partake in the festivities. Peter Buck came out to Easy Street to meet fans and sign…well…anything. Performances by Telekinesis, Moondoggies, Duff McKagan and Loaded, Massy Ferguson, Zoe Muth, The Tea Cozies and more happened all over the city. There was so much going on it was hard to decide what to do and where to go. In the end it came down to following the vinyls or rather the search for them.

I went in search of the elusive limited edition releases that everyone else also wanted. Traveling from one store to the next I found quite a bit of music to buy and spent some time mingling with music lovers at each store. I think I met and talked to half of the music fans in Seattle. It was a great experience listening to them tell me about their favorite bands and give me suggestions on what “I had to have.” I ended up pretty much grabbing anything I could get my hands on. Most of the purchases were releases by musicians I knew about, but I also grabbed a few that I had never heard of that people suggested just to expand my musical horizons. After all was said and done, I was happy with what I took home with me.

I had this grand plan to listen to and write about my purchases from Record Store Day today but alas my record player failed me. As I put on the 7″ from The Civil Wars the player slowed down and then ceased to spin. It was a traumatic experience. I was so excited to listen to and tell you all about my great finds. Now, I am waiting in anticipation for my new record player and until then will just have to find something else to listen to and then tell you about. In case anyone is curious, here is a list of what I picked up today (and not all of them were RSD special releases).

 

Vinyl

Owen 7″- O Evelyn

My Chemical Romance 7″- NA NA NA

Manchester Orchestra 7″- Simple Math

Green Day/Husker Du 7″- Don’t Want To Know If  You are Lonely

The Joy Formidable 7″- Whirring/Chwyrlio

Built to Spill 7″- Ripple

Death Cab For Cutie- In Living Stereo 7″

Adele 10″- Rolling in the Deep

Kings of Leon 10″- Holy roller Novocaine

Mumford and Sons- Dharohar Project

Daft Punk 12″- Tron Soundtrack

Blitzen Trapper 7″- Maybe Baby

Epic Records 7″: Pearl Jam- Immortality and The Frogs- Rearviewmirror

Brett Dennen 7″- b side to the d side

Matt and Kim 7″- Block After Block

Against Me 7″- I Was a Teenage Anarchist

Radiohead Vinyl- The King of Limbs

The Head and the Heart Vinyl- The Head and the Heart

The Civil Wars 7″- Dance Me to the End of Love

Fleet Foxes Vinyl- Helplessness Blues/Grown Ocean

Piebald Vinyl- Vol I-III Triple Gatefold 3LP Special Edition

 

Did you experience Record Store Day 2011? Where were you? Any cool swag picked up or performances experienced? Meet some rad people? What can I say..I’m curious.

 

Plus I missed Telekinesis because I was stuck in traffic. Anyone want to tell me how it was?

 

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