Record Store Day and The Vinyl District extend exclusive partnership into 2010

The Vinyl District is excited to announce that for the second year running, we've been named the Official Blog for Record Store Day 2010. We'll be the first to break news as the bands and labels line up unique releases for RSD2010 and we'll have the inside line on the day's events happening around the country (and around the globe) which we'll bring to you.

"Record Store Day is happy to be working with The Vinyl District again this year. Last year we released almost 100 unique vinyl releases just for Record Store Day and look forward to making some exciting announcements with The Vinyl District in the coming weeks and months. Look for the debut vinyl release from Broken Bells (featuring Brian Burton – aka Danger Mouse and the Shins’ James Mercer) in your local record store in the next couple of weeks," Michael Kurtz, the co-founder of Record Store Day wrote to us last week.

In addition to being the breaking RSD2010 news source as we were last year, The Vinyl District will once more be counting down to the event on April 17, 2010 with TEN straight weeks of vinyl giveaways, so keep checking back each week for a chance to take some vinyl home.

In the planning stage at the moment is something pretty huge for the evening of Record Store Day here in DC that we're not at liberty discuss at the moment. (Big benefit concert. *cough* Big venue. *cough* DC's best bands. *cough*) But you heard nuthin'.

All of us here TVD HQ are thrilled to be working with the Record Store Day team for another year. Be certain to check out the official site and to pop back our way for all of the the up to the minute RSD2010 info as we march toward the event on April 17, 2010—the one day that all of the independently owned record stores come together with artists to celebrate the art of music.

It's The Submarines' Vinyl District!

It's Day #3 of The Submarines' Vinyl District Blog Takeover and John's pulled some tracks that are right up our collective alley:

Tonight I went over to our friend, Jebin Bruni's house. We met Jebin while touring with Aimee Mann last year and he's a super talented keyboardist who's also played with Fiona Apple and Liz Phair. So, when I walked in to his studio the first thing I saw was this!


(Aside from being an analog synthesizer buff, Jebin's also a big vinyl collector.)

Before we lived in Los Angeles, we lived in Boston. I moved there after high school overseas and it's where I started my first "real" bands, worked in coffee shops and eventually ended up slinging packages as a bike messenger. One of the first bands in Boston that I fell in love with was Galaxie 500. They're first single, "Tugboat/King of Spain", was released on a label called Aurora Records, which was started by a fellow named Marc Alghini. Marc also released a 45 that I really liked by a band called Ed's Redeeming Qualities.


...A couple of years ago The Subs recorded a version of "Tugboat".


The Teardrop Explodes. One of my favorite bands. "Soft Enough for You" is a track off of a gate-fold 7" that is apparently the last thing released using the band name. One of my favorite Julian Cope quotes: When asked if the Teardrop Explodes would ever get back together, he said: "Would you ever return to having your mother wipe your asshole?"


Ed's Redeeming Qualities - Lawndart (Mp3)
Ed's Redeeming Qualities - The Boy I Work With (Mp3)
Galaxie 500 - Tugboat (Mp3)
The Submarines - Tugboat (Mp3)
Teardrop Explodes - Soft Enough For You (Mp3)

TVD First Date with | The Hussy

So, it's our first 'First Date' for 2010 and appropriately enough, with ...The Hussy. (Here's to poetic justice.)

The Madison, WI band will see their split 7" (with The Zygoteens) released tomorrow, January 14th, on Big Action Records and will be doing four release shows in Madison, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and Appleton.

...and they'll send you one if you impress us sufficiently in the comments to this post. No foolin'. Whatcha got?

We chatted with guitarist Robert Wegner in advance of the 7" release:

We at the Hussy dig vinyl for a number of reasons, most notably the fact that it’s the perfect format for a simple band like the Hussy. We’re into short burst of punk energy, and what better format than the 7 inch? It’s the perfect length for us. A CD is way too long. We need the warmth and the crackles of the vinyl to fill in the missing bass frequencies, and we need the grit of a blasting stylus to fill out the sound even more.


But we also don’t bow down at the throne of a piece of vinyl or it’s perceived perfection of audio reproduction; we just think it’s a format that works for this band, much in the same way the CD is a perfect format for the countless pop-tart singers that clog the modern day radio waves. They sound clean and pristine on CD just like at their arena concerts - and we sound dirty and raw, just like at our hole-in-the-wall dive shows. Vinyl offers us that opportunity: to get the sound to the listener as if they’re in the middle of an overblown Hussy set.

Plus...they make great frisbees.

The Hussy - Social Critique of Madison (Mp3)
The Hussy - Head Set (Mp3)

TVD Live Tease/Ticket Giveaway | Olivia Mancini & the Mates, Thurday 1/14, DC9

Our new pal Olivia Mancini brings her Mates and her thoroughly tuneful live show to DC9 this Thursday evening (1/14) along with Fredericksburg's Vermillions and Philly's The Extraordinaires.

Think you deserve to be front and center Thursday night? Olivia's given TVD a pair of tickets to offer the individual who pleads their case and hits the right note in the comments to this post. Give us something we can sing along with, ok?

You've got 'til Thursday morning so get at us with some contact info!

Olivia Mancini & the Mates - Easy Way (Mp3)
Olivia Mancini & the Mates - Cranberry & Navy Blue (Mp3)