Mid-April means more than just blooming flowers and the return of leaves to the trees in Pittsburgh. To audiophiles and vinyl junkies, it's the holiday season: Time to celebrate Record Store Day.
Now in its fourth official iteration, Record Store Day was dreamt up in 2007 by a group of music lovers concerned about the plight of the small, independent music-seller. It's been celebrated with special releases, sales and in-store performances each year since, on the third Saturday in April.
Plenty of local shops are taking part this year on April 16. Dave's Music Mine, on the South Side; Desolation Row and Wicked Discs, in Oakland; and Stedeford's, on the North Side, are all participating, as are the several locations of The Exchange.
Some stores are simply having special sales: The Attic, in Millvale, will open just after midnight Saturday for a 17-hour marathon special, and Jerry's Records, in Squirrel Hill, is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m., selling many records for $1 and giving away entire sealed crates of "orphaned" records.
Lawrenceville's 720 Records is planning an all-day party with an all-star lineup of DJs including Buscrates, Vex, S.M.I, Nate da Phat Barber and Selecta (720 co-owner James Scoglietti). Record Store Day exclusives offered at 720 will include a double-LP of Wiz Khalifa's new Rolling Papers and a 10-inch picture disc from Daft Punk.
Mind Cure Records, in Polish Hill, which opened in 2010, is offering several exclusive Record Store Day releases from local artists. Gangwish (the project of drummer Sam Pace, of Centipede Eest, and Matt McDermott, of Passengers and Harangue) and the formerly local experimental-folk outfit Shep & Me are both offering new releases to premiere on Saturday.
Three other local bands are offering Record Store Day exclusives, which won't be available again, at Mind Cure. Majeure, the solo project of Zombi's A.E. Paterra, will be offering a 7-inch single, with 150 copies available. TMEye, the duo of Preslav Lefterov and Modey Lemon's Phil Boyd, will have an exclusive cassette available, as will Edgar Um's longtime noise/performance project, Fuck Telecorps.
For more information on the national event, visit recordstoreday.com.
