Dirty Clubs and Gritty Demos, Vol 21 - Attention all you record nerds!

This Saturday April 17^th is Record Store Day.

Record Store Day, now in it’s third year, is being held on Saturday April 17^th. Record Store Day is the celebration of independent record stores and those of us who love independent music. This event was conceived by an indie record store employee in 2007 who wanted to celebrate the unique culture and community of indie record stores and their customers. This annual event celebrates music through those stores that operate for the love of the art (and not for giant profits) and those of us who go there not just to buy music, but for the energy and community. This event has been growing in popularity each year, adding more stores to the list of participants, cool giveaways, and stellar performances.

Both emerging artists and legends such as, Against Me!, Devo, Elvis Costello, Flogging Molly, John Lennon, Modest Mouse, he Velvet Underground, and even Hot Water Music are taking part in Record Store Day. Each of these artists are releasing limited pressing vinyl for this event and each participating store decides which releases it will carry.

Also, many stores will host live performance on Saturday. Check out your local store for their performances. If you happen to be in NYC check out Walter Schreifels (of Youth of Today and the Gorilla Biscuits), Andrew WK, and Cymbals Eat Guitars at Revolution Records.

A few facts for those of you who are wondering what kind of stores are participating in this event. First, it is world wide event with super local community participation. The stores are retailers with an actual store (none of the online pseudo-stores allowed) that’s business is at least 50% music, it is not publicly traded, and whose ownership is located in the state of operation.

Check out their site.

And their search tool to find out which of your local independent stores are participating.

They also have a nice list of most (not all) of the special edition releases that will be available (and goodies like what color vinyl and how many are being pressed).

A list of some of the performances happening all over the country.