Tag Archives: Record Store Day

04/20/13

Record Store Day Is Here!

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Record store Day is here at last. Seeing as how we’ve already discussed why this day is so important and showed you where to find the list of all the freebies available this year, there’s not much to say. You can find a list of the North American stores celebrating here and the list of UK stores can be found here.

No participating stores in your area? Fear not! As was the case last year, we’re offering some free music downloads to help you get into the spirit of things:

WVRockscene, has a ton of great free downloads. I especially recommend anything by The Renfields. Intrigued? Then their Bastard Sons of Ed Wood album is a great place to get started.

To quote the description in their Bandcamp profile, “Spirit of The Indies is a collective of independent artists, by the musicians, for the musicians, and their fans.” Every year they put together free sampler albums featuring a wide selection of artists, as evidenced by their 2012 and 2013 samplers.

If you’re looking for over 22 minutes of listening pleasure, then the Volcano Kings’ free Mechanical Beast EP should be right up your alley.

Both Lo-Fi Kabuki Records and Spookhand offer a mix of free and “Name your price” downloads, all of which are highly recommended. That said, please be fair with the “Name your price” downloads, as Lo-Fi Kabuki has been very good to our podcast and Spookhand is headed by our own Dr. Gangrene.

If you enjoyed Strange Jason’s review of Tales From The Emancipated Head by the Pine Box Boys, then you’ll be happy to hear how the track “Theme From The Emancipated Head” from said album is available on the free 2013 Farmageddon Records Music Festival Compilation CD download (along with 20 other great songs).

In addition to the free downloads of “The Film Geek Love Song” and “The Vampire Song (a plea for Cushing and Lee),” more musical greatness from Miscellaneous Plumbing Fixtures can be found at the two Soundcloud pages associated with the After Movie Diner podcast.

Happy Record Store Day!

As always, Gravedigger’s Local 16 is not to be held responsible for anything that may occur (be it good or bad) as a result of downloading from any links given here. Attempt at your own discretion. Blah blah blah…

04/21/12

Record Store Day Is Here!

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We’ve been teasing it for quite some time and now the big day is finally here. You can find a list of all the great surprises and participating locations at the official website.

Don’t have a participating store near you? We here at Gravedigger’s Local 16 have you covered! In addition to our (unofficial) tribute to both Record Store Day and video stores, we also have a fine selection of free music downloads!

Amazon is offering a limited-time free download of the soundtrack to the film Unpleasantville. Don’t forget to check out the links at the bottom for even more free music downloads. If you like what you hear, you can learn more about the film here.

Ray O’Bannon has tons of free music, along with free album art and countless other goodies, at his amazing website.

Fauxrror is a series of free downloads of music from movies that never existed, complete with posters and reviews of the ficticious films. You can get all the goodness at either Doomed Moviethon or the official Fauxrror Myspace. You decide!

Strange Jason has always sung the praises of Messer Chups, and you can found out why by downloading their free EPs (complete with album art).

Kevin MacLeod’s Incompetech.com offers an astoundingly large selection of free music that covers practically every genre (including tons of spooky stuff)! You’ll be hearing more about this site here in the future, trust me.

Happy Record Store Day!

As always, Gravedigger’s Local 16 is not to be held responsible for anything that may occur (be it good or bad) as a result of downloading from any links given here. Attempt at your own discretion. Blah blah blah…

04/18/12

Record Store Day Is Coming!

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It’s April and that means Record Store Day is quickly approaching. This year it falls on the 21st, so clear your schedules and get ready to get some choice freebies.

And choice they are. According to the official website, there are quite a few special releases that should be of interest to readers of this blog. The Misfits are releasing the legendary album Walk Among Us on colored vinyl and their label is also doing a release where Juicehead and Osaka Popstar team up to do a cover of Fugazi’s “Waiting Room.” You might remember Fugazi as the folks that are occasionally claimed to be responsible for the Beavis and Butt-head theme. It’s actually the work of Mike Judge, but they’re still cool.

Fans of the Freaky Tiki Surf-ari are bound to be interested in the freebie from the Martian Denny Orchestra. Said orchestra is a surf cover band created by Eddie Angel (The Neanderthals) and Jimmy Lester (Los Straitjackets). We’re hoping to include something by them in an upcoming special episode of the podcast. That said, it’s a completely unofficial tribute to both Record Store Day and independent video stores. The people behind Record Store Day have nothing to do with it.

It’s also worth noting that Record Store Day is an international event, so the record stores in your country might not not have all of the items noted here. On the plus side, you might get some exclusive goodies, like how people in the UK got a sweet Doctor Who movie soundtrack CD that also included a condensed audio drama version of Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. featuring Peter Cushing!

04/16/11

It’s Record Store Day!

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Although Weird Jon has explained Record Store Day in detail before, here’s a brief summary: On the third Saturday in April, select independent record stores give away free goodies and sometimes even host live performances in order to increase awareness of their existence. Those who have listened to the first episode of our podcast may remember a spooky tune from a band called The Growlers. They might also remember that said band is releasing a free, limited edition vinyl LP for Record Store Day. We highly recommend snagging it if you get the chance.

Happy Record Store Day!

09/24/09

Finally, it’s Fall!

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Although leaves were falling and the air was crisp much earlier in September, it wasn’t until September 22nd that autumn had officially arrived. Perhaps that’s why it took most of the stores I’ve visited this month waited until about now to put out their Halloween merchandise. It’s funny how they feel it’s okay to display the Halloween candy (complete with Halloween-themed packaging) out in August, but everything else is a no-no. I say if you’re going to put out stuff early, you might as well go full tilt. I guess I’ve been spoiled by the dollar stores putting out their stuff before everyone else.

Similarly, Music Choice’s “Sounds of the Seasons” channel finally started playing music related to a holiday. Granted, they’re focusing on Oktoberfest, but at least they’re actually playing something fall-related. Something tells me they won’t wait as long to play Christmas music in November as they will to play Halloween music in October.

Remember Record Store Day? Well, it turns out that it has a movie-themed sequel: Record Store Day Filmfest. The filmfest runs from October 21st through October 27th, so head on down to your local record store for all kinds of cool contests and DVD deals. While I don’t know if this is that case for a participating stores, but Newbury Comics is having 20% off used DVD sale in addition to putting discounts on select “new” titles. To see which stores are taking part, check out the official website.

Why didn’t I write about this sooner? I’m afraid some issues that’ve arisen over the past two weeks have been keeping me away from the blog at a regular basis. Since I don’t know when I’ll have everything straightened out, I thought I’d post the final GdL post for September a bit early than I’d originally planned. Hopefully I’ll be able to get everything resolved in time for the Halloween countdown. See you then!

04/16/09

Record Store Day is coming!

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Mark your calendars: Saturday, April 18th is Record Store Day. Much like how Free Comic Book Day lures people to comic stores in the hopes they’ll do some impulse shopping, Record Store Day seeks to celebrate and preserve the independent record store business. Sales on used CDs and DVDs, live performances, free refreshments and promotional goodies are all part of the promotional effort (although it varies from store to store).

It may seem odd that a blog devoted to horror stuff is promoting this, but there’s actually a method to my madness. Record stores have helped me (and presumably others) get my hands on music and horror DVDs that the big retailers just don’t carry, especially titles from independent companies and distributors. I’ve saved a lot of money over the years by buying used DVDs from record stores and I’ve lost count of the times I’ve sold off some DVDs and CDs in order to purchase something I’ve had my eye on.

Horror fans also might be interested to know that Bruce Springsteen will be releasing a record (yes, as in vinyl) containing the once online-exclusive song “A Night with the Jersey Devil” as part of the RSD celebration.

As download-based distribution of music and movies becomes more and more popular, the survival of indie record stores becomes more and more threatened. Instead of going to their local record store(s) to check out and buy discs, many are opting for the ease of downloading stuff from Amazon, iTunes, and the like. That, combined with competition from big chain stores are driving business away from record stores. And let’s face it: you won’t be able to resell .mp3s you don’t want if you need extra cash, but you can do that with CDs and DVDs at record stores. So let’s help keep a good thing going by supporting our local record stores!

To see which stores are participating, check out the official Record Store Day website.

02/13/09

TGIF13

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Here’s a treat for all you New Englanders who’ve signed up for Newbury Comics’ weekly e-newsletter: You can get a coupon for a free Friday the 13th-themed pint glass with a purchase of ten dollars or more. The offer’s good through February 22nd (while supplies last). You can sign up for the newsletter here.

Don’t worry if you’ve just signed up and didn’t get a copy of this week’s newsletter, as they usually sell leftover glasses on their website and give them away on Record Store Day. Or you could just try contacting Newbury Comics through their website to ask for the coupon. Whatever you end up doing, we here at the GdL hope you have a happy Friday the 13th!