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Stores Tue Apr 17 2012

It's Coming! Record Store Day 2012

By Anne Holub

Ahoy all vinyl-loving music fans! Another Record Store Day is nearly upon us. Come this Saturday, April 21st, the doors of your local record shops will be thrown open, and all the masses are welcome to flip, peruse, and, most importantly, purchase some amazing new tunes. Chicago stores have always embraced this (most holy) of music celebrations, and this year is no different. Plan your route, or in some cases your level of caffeination, and head out to one of these shops for some RSD fun.

Note: shops have, in most cases, pre-ordered special releases for Record Store Day, but they won't know what they've been sent until the boxes are opened this week. (It's more of a wish list, really.) Check out what you might find with this long run-down of special releases for RSD 2012.

Chicagoland stores participating in Record Store Day 2012

Beverly Records - 11612 S. Western Ave. - 773-779-0066 - @BeverlyRecords
Here's the store's RSD plan:
8:30am - Doors open, Record Store Day 20% off used vinyl sale begins
1pm - Record store Day / Beverly Records 45th anniversary summer long kick off party. Free pizza, pop and giveaways till 4pm.
2:30pm - Wailin' Waylon, Waylon Jennings Tribute Artist, performs at 2:30
4pm - giveaways and party wraps up
6pm - doors close

Bucket O' Blood Books and Records - 2307 N. Milwaukee Ave. - 773-715-5901
The store will host free acoustic performances from Annie Strong (This is My Fist) and Jason Smith (Sass Dragons) starting at 3:30pm.

Dave's Records - 2604 N. Clark St. - 773-929-6325 - @davesrecordschi
As always, observe Dave's Record Store Day rules (which are copious).

From Dave: Free Candy! Free Cupcakes! Free Stuff (until it runs out)! As many of the limited releases as we can obtain (list posted on the blog/Facebook/Twitter by 11pm Friday, April 20th)! 50% off all used 7" and 12" singles! Follow the blog...follow the twitter...all info will be gleaned from those two sources. Doors open at 11am. First Come, First Served.

Death or Glory Records - 2557 1/2 W.Chicago Ave. - 773-360-8721

Dusty Groove Records - 1120 N. Ashland Ave. - 773-342-5800 - @DustyGroove
As always, it'll be festive at Dusty Groove. They'll open early, at 8am and close at 9pm. Record Store Day fun includes: Special gifts for the first 100 customers, spin the wheel of fortune with every purchase, refreshments and free giveaways all day long (specials include a limited edition Miles Davis lithograph, special record bags, and other unusual items. They'll also have free food for folks waiting in line!), contests for one-of-a-kind items, live magic in the early afternoon, performance from Chicago soul legend Otis Clay at 4pm.

Gramaphone Records - 2843 N. Clark St. - 773-472-3683 @gramaphonechi
They'll have free Gramaphone buttons to patrons to give out all day (while they last) and live DJ sets in-store:

11-12pm - TBA
12pm-1pm - Harry T
1pm- 2pm - DjPratt/ Void Pedal
2pm-3pm DJ LGGC
3pm-4pm - DJ AMPM
4pm-5pm - Fathom DJ
5pm-6pm - Jesse De La Pena
6pm-7pm - Shut Eye w/ Shaun Wright
7pm-8pm - Nathan Larsen/ Samone Roberts
8pm-Close - Hector Lopez

Groovin' High - 1047 W. Belmont Ave. - 773-476-6846
The store will have lots of special RSD releases available including 7"s and LPs. They'll also offer half off all used merchandise - LPs, DVDs, and more. Open extended hours 8am-8pm.

Hyde Park Records - 1377 E. 53rd St. - 773-288-6588 - @hydprkrcrds
They'll stock RSD special titles, and will also host an afternoon of tunes from DJs from 88.5FM WHPK titled "Dusties Jam" starting in the afternoon around 2 or 3pm.

Jazz Record Mart - 27 E. Illinois Ave. - 312-222-1467

Laurie's Planet of Sound - 4639 N. Lincoln Ave. - 773-271-3569 - @lauriespos
Laurie's will open their doors at 9am and RSD items are limited to one (each) per customer, and they note they cannot hold or save anything... first come, first serve. As usual, they'll post a list of every RSD item we'll have in stock the Friday night before (April 20), on their Facebook page and website, so keep an eye out. Goodie bags available until they run out, plus giveaways throughout the day.

In-store schedule (times subject to change):
noon - Martin Rivas
1pm - Variety Lights
2pm - "Elvis, Angotti, Dawson & Burch, Ltd"
Brad Elvis, Phil Angotti, Steve Dawson, and Edward Burch will descend upon Laurie's Planet of Sound in the heart of Lincoln Square in Chicago to perform The Monkees' classic 1967 album, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. in its entirety. Event info on FB.
3pm - Casey McDonough & Scott Ligon (of The Flat Five, The Letter 3)
4pm-6pm - Hot dogs with Hemmert! WXRT DJ/Beatles expert Terri Hemmert will be Laurie's "guest clerk," hanging out behind the counter, playing some tunes, and chatting with customers. Also, local hotdog joint Chubby Weiners will have their hotdog truck parked right in front of the store, anyone with a Laurie's receipt gets a FREE HOTDOG!!
6pm-8pm - DJ Peroxide
6pm - Astrobrite
7pm - Blizzard Babies

KStarke Records - 1109 N. Western Ave - 773-772-4880 - @Kstarke_Records

The Metro - 3730 N. Clark St. - 773-549-4140 - @metrochicago
This year, the Metro is celebrating all things musical in its merch and ticket store (adjacent to the venue). They'll have music for sale, amazing specials on merchandise and show posters, and great prize packages you can win.

From the Metro: "This will mark the first time Metro has hosted a pop up store, and the club is thrilled to work with Charlie Gitch of Ghetto Division Records for the Hot Jams Pop Up Store! Featuring the back stock of legendary Chicago South Side record store Hot Jams, there will be $5, $10 and $15 bins from record labels including Atlantic Records, Motown, Cajual, Relief, Underground Construction, Abstract Muzik, International House Records, Trax Records, Strickly Rhythm, Jasper Stone and DJ International, amongst others. Music from artists Earth, Wind and Fire, The Temptations, Michael Jackson, Jackson 5, Cajmere, Fast Eddie, Frankie Knuckles, Jaime Principle, Derrick May, Bad Boy Bill, Angel Alanis, Donna Summer and more will be on hand for all your shopping pleasure!"

Permanent Records - 1914 W. Chicago Ave. - 773-278-1744 - @PermanentRex
Permanent gets down not only with their favorite RSD selections, but also their own label's release. Permanent Records' 30th label release will be limited to 100 hand assembled, hand numbered copies available exclusively at their Chicago and L.A. shops on Saturday.

The store has promised they ordered RSD specials like mad, but they'll be keeping them super secret until the doors open at midnight on Saturday (that's RSD Eve, everyone).
They note: "You have to come to the shop physically to see what we have in store - which is what Record Store Day is all about. All RSD Exclusives will be sold first come first serve, we CANNOT hold anything for anyone. Again, we apologize, but we also can't guarantee that we'll be able to answer the phone during the busy Midnight Sale or during Record Store Day itself (depending on traffic) and we certainly won't be telling anyone whether a specific RSD title is in stock or not, because it may not be in stock by the time one gets here to retrieve it."

They'll also have in-store performances starting at 4pm:
ONO
Psychic Teens
Vyto B & The Band That Never Made It

Raffe's Record Riot - 4350 N. Cicero - 773-725-1327

Reckless Records - (Various) - @RecklessRecords
Reckless will be open normal hours. They'll have special giveaways at each of their three locations including Reckless/Three Floyds hoodies and pint glasses (read more below), Ropes Demos II 7" (Reckless Exclusive), Holy Fever 7 colored vinyl (Reckless Exclusive), Integrity Palm Sunday (Exclusive at Reckless in Chicago and only two other shops in the U.S.), Atlas Moth Pray For Tides/One Amongst The Weed Fields cassette (at the Broadway location only), and more exclusives related to the in-store performances listed below.

Wicker Park location - 1532 N. Milwaukee Ave. - 773-235-3727
In-store performances by:
2pm- Radar Eyes (stripped down synth version)
3pm - Fake Limbs
3:45pm - Spires That In The Sunset Rise
4:30pm - Bloodiest
5:15pm - Circles (ex Ponys members)

Lakeview location - 3126 N. Broadway - 773-404-5080
2pm- Pamphleteers
3pm - Running
4pm - Verma
5:30pm - Atlas Moth

Loop location - 26 E. Madison - 312-795-0878
In-store performances:
1:30pm - Arborist
3:30pm - Psalm One
4:30pm - Cloud Birds

Also: Join Reckless fans and beer lovers on Saturday night at the Bottom Lounge for a party in honor of RSD. Sweet Cobra, Chicago Thrash Ensemble, and Party Downers will play with some metal-specific DJs between bands. The Reckless/Three Floyds Beer will be available all night as well as hoodies and pint glasses with the beer label art by local artist Putrid.

Record Breakers (above Reggie's Rock Club) - 2109 S. State St. - 312-949-0125 - @reggieslive
The store will be open 9am-midnight. They'll have plenty of RSD releases as well as free hot dogs, chips and salsa, and pop.

In-store performances:
10am-10:45am: The New Diet
11am-11:45am: Mitch Mead
12pm-12:45pm: The Sweeps
1pm-1:45pm: Owen
2pm-2:45pm: Empires (acoustic set)
3pm-3:45pm: Magicks
4pm-4:45pm: Electric Touch
5pm-5:45pm: Swimsuit Addition

saki - 3716 W. Fullerton Ave. - 773-486-3997 - @sakistore
The shop is open 9am-9pm and, among RSD releases, will sell special prints and tees designed by Ryan Duggan in honor of RSD.

In-store performances by (not necessarily in order):
The Runnies
Opposites
Hollows
Minor Characters
Cross Record
Cains & Abels
Bare Mutants
Santah

Second Hand Tunes - 800 Dempster St., Evanston - 847-491-1690

As usual, they'll be hosting a midnight sale for the event (they say they generally have a strong turnout and stay open for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours to accommodate the large crowd waiting in line.) Also, they'll have a limited supply of free canvas tote/shopping bags in a variety of colors printed with the Record Store Day 2012 logo and filled with all sorts of fun goodies from various record labels (CDs, records, stickers, buttons, etc.).

Shake, Rattle & Read - 4812 N. Broadway Ave. - 773-334-5311

The Exchange - 935 W. Belmont Ave. - 773-883-8908 and 1524 N. Milwaukee Ave. 773-252-9570
Both of their Chicago locations will receive their share of the limited numbers of Record Store Day titles.

Vintage Vinyl - 925 Davis St., Evanston - 847-328-2899
Among releases and specials, the store will also host an in-store performance by The Luck Of Eden Hall at noon.

Chicago Labels

Bloodshot Records
Bloodshot will release two RSD 7": one from Justin Townes Earle for "Nothing's Gonna Change The Way You Feel About Me Now" off his new album of the same name (read our review) and one from Lydia Loveless for "Bad Way To Go" — coincidentally, the B-sides on both 7" hold Elvis Costello covers.

In addition to the two 7" they'll have out, they'll be giving away a couple of JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound prize packs at the Metro store in advance of their show there on 4/27/12.

They'll also have their recent release from Justin Townes Earle sale priced and available to hear on listening posts at all three Reckless stores, Laurie's Planet of Sound in Lincoln Square, Saki Store in Logan Square, and Rolling Stones in Norridge .

Their new release from Waco Brothers & Paul Burch, Great Chicago Fire will also be available and sale priced in advance of its 4/24/12 street date at Laurie's Planet of Sound, Reckless Records, and Dave's Records in Lincoln Park.

Thrill Jockey Records
They'll be releasing a new split LP from Hush Arbors and Arbouretum called Aureola, as well as a new Black Twig Pickers 7" called Yellow Cat. They'll also have a rare repress of Freakwater's Feels Like the Third Time on vinyl.

Numero Group
Saving the biggest label goings on for last, Numero Group will once again be opening their special "pop-up store" in honor of RSD. This year, they'll be at the Empty Bottle.

From Numero: "The Empty Bottle has been kind enough to offer their nearly 3,000 square foot space at 1035 N. Western Ave. Every square inch of it will be crammed with tens of thousands of LPs, CDs, tapes, 45s, DVDs, books, and magazines, sold by dealers trekking to Chicago from all over the U.S.

Numero Group will boast two tables of their own wares, where buyers can select from their 100 strong catalog to fill in holes in their Numero archive. We'll also be selling our limited edition record store day LP/CD WTNG 89.9FM: Solid Bronze, and a limited-to-100 copies, 45 that can only be purchased at this location.

Additionally, Numero will be setting up our mobile FM radio station, WTNG 89.9, broadcasting live from the Empty Bottle's stage all day to a five mile radius. They'll have guest DJs, a contest, and a live auction, all bookended with vintage radio ads for long-since-shuttered local businesses. This record utopia will open at 9am and close at 6pm. Cash, credit, barter."

Whew! If that's not enough to keep you occupied, I just don't know. Keep an eye out on Transmission for our staff's RSD experiences and a roundup of our sweet scores after Saturday.