Showing posts with label black friday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label black friday. Show all posts
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buffaBLOG's Record Store Day Black Friday Preview



Let's face it, America is totally jumping the shark with this whole Black Friday thing. It's gotten entirely out of hand so badly that Thanksgiving has become meaningless for far too many Americans, for both the bargain hungry consumer and the poor souls who have to serve them instead of being with their families. It really is disgusting. There is however a wonderful silver lining to the blight of Black Friday, and that's the Record Store Day sequel that lands yet more goodness in our local independent record shops for our joyful consumption. 

 Once again a tremendous bevy of artists are offering special artifacts and goodies for sale only at record stores to support these vital music outlets and the communities of music fans they serve. It's capitalist consumerism you can feel good about, and frankly if you value the physical article that is vinyl (and to a less extent CD) it's another smorgasborg of music fan enjoyment. Here's a brief look at what's going to available Friday and where you can get in on the fun after elbowing your fellow man in the head for a discounted HD TV.
Black Friday Special Releases Of Note:

 Band of Horses, Live At The Ryman, 7" vinyl
Charles Bradley ft The Budos Band and the Bullets, "Changes," 7' vinyl. Super 
Daptacular goodness from everybody's friends at Daptone Records.
Civil Wars, Between The Bars, 7' vinyl. A posthumous release from this late and lamented band.
The Clash, their whole catalog on CD. Available until January 14, 2014.
The Doors, Curated By Record Store Day, LP vinyl. Rarities and mono mixes picked by record store owners. Sounds boffo.
Bob Dylan, Side Tracks, LP vinyl. A mother-lode of never before released tracks on 3 LPs. There might be some Bob Dylan fans jostling for this one. Watch out.
Elvis Costello & The Roots, Wise Up: Thought Remixes and Reworks, CD. A companion to their excellent Wise Up Ghost (reviewed here) from two of the biggest musicheads ever.
The Flaming Lips, Peace Sword, LP and CD. The physical release of their Peace Sword EP Ender's Game companion pieace (reviewed here) featuring a new song and more super awesome handmade vinyl. I'm gonna get my ass out of bed and snag this early.
Foals, CCTV Sessions, LP vinyl. 
The Grateful Dead, Family Dog At The Great Highway, LP vinyl. Live acoustic Dead from 1970.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience, "Fire/Foxy Lady," 7' vinyl.
John Denver & The Muppets, A Christmas Together, 12" picture disc. Nuff said.
Nas, Halftime, 12' vinyl. 
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, Live At KRCW, Vinyl LP.
Nirvana, In Utero 2013 Mix. LP vinyl.
Roy Orbison, The Monument Vinyl Box, 4 vinyl LPs. 3 of his biggest albums plus an album of unreleased tracks.
Puscifer, Puscifer's 8 Ball Bail Bonds--The Berger Barns Live in Phoenix, LP vinyl.
Queens Of The Stone Age, ... Like Clockwork (Black On Black), LP vinyl. Limited edition apparently.
Silversun Pickups, "Let It Decay/Working Title," 10' vinyl.
Skaters, "Deadbolt," 7" vinyl. Lead single from their upcoming debut.
Sly & The Family Stone, "Sexy Situation/Mother Is A Hippy," 7" vinyl.
Tegan & Sara, "Guilty As Charged/Running On Empty," 7' vinyl.
Josh Tilman (aka Father John Misty), The History Of Caves (soundtrack), LP
Truth And Soul Records Presents The Soul Fire Boxed Set, 7' vinyl boxed set.
U2, "Ordinary Love," 7' single. Their contribution to the Idris Elba Nelson Mandela biopic Long Walk To Freedom, and quite possibly one of the band's last 7' singles if you believe the hype (I kind of do).
Uncle Tupelo, "I Wanna Be Your Dog/Commotion," 7' vinyl. UT + Stooges and Credence covers = yeah.
Various Artists, A Musical Tribute To The Songs Of Shel Silverstein. Vinyl LP.
Zabriskie Point soundtrack, Vinyl LP. A vinyl pressing of the legendary soundtrack to the legendary Michelangelo Antonioni film featuring Pink Floyd and The Grateful Dead.
The complete list of goodies available Black Friday can be found here.
And once again a bunch of local stores will be participating, almost forming a dragnet of musical joy to cover Western New York:

 Black Dots
223 Lafayette Ave (at Grant St), Buffalo
M&B Record Exchange
207 Delaware St, Tonawanda
Music Matters
527 Cayuga Dr, Niagara Falls
Record Theatre
1800 Main Street (at Lafayette Ave), Buffalo
3500 Main Street (in University Plaza), Amherst
Spiral Scratch Records
291 Bryant St, Buffalo
Big sale going on in addition to the Black Friday releases thru Saturday when WBNY broadcasts from the shop in honor of Small Business Saturday.


The south towns are apparently out of luck (another reason not to live there). Happy Thanksgiving, and happy record shopping.

 To get you in the mood to love your fellow man Black Friday, here's the beginning of the end of U2. Sorry ladies, no footage of Idris Elba.

Cliff Parks
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Tonight: Bearhunter, On Beta, and Fairweathers


Unless you've already plunged into your Thanksgiving leftovers, 24 hours should give us all plenty of time to break out of that Tryptophan-induced turkey coma. If you're still having trouble, a wonderful Buffalo showcase is taking place tonight, featuring three excellent bands - the Pavement-esque Bearhunter, On Beta, and Fairweathers.  

 Some loud music could do us all some good. This is, of course, assuming you've survived Black Friday. For the brave souls who managed to make it through the workday, or even the savvy shoppers who sold their souls for some good deals, if you need to blow off some steam, the show starts at 9:00PM at Mohawk Place.
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Black Friday Record Store Day Preview


I'm not going to lie to you. Black Friday is ass. People want to talk about the decline of America and I point to how we're actively ruining the Thanksgiving holiday weekend: people running around like animals and behaving badly in the name of commerce and sales sales sales, with retail workers caught in the melee and worse, called upon to get up earlier and earlier to deal with the mobs until this year, when we've moved Black Friday to Thanksgiving and ruined that too. Thanksgiving, and the day after Thanksgiving used to be great, but now they're both rubbish. Indeed, the only genuinely good thing about Black Friday at this point is the Record Store Day Black Friday sale at locally owned independent record stores. Like the Record Store Day holiday in April, there's an amazing bounty of cool (and weird) exclusive releases. To give you time to properly get your lists ready here's a probably incomplete list of stuff hitting stores this Friday (a complete list can be found at the handy Record Store Day site):
Beach Boys  Surfin' Safari Capitol 10" black vinyl
David Bowie Jean Genie Virgin Records 7" picture disc
Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band 7" singles
Gene Clark Echoes/I Found You Sundazed 7" single
Coheed and Cambria The Afterman Ascension 12" clear vinyl
Leonard Cohen/Jeff Buckley Hallelujah 7" split single
Dr. Dog Wild Race 12" etched vinyl
Bob Dylan Duquesne Whistle  Columbia 7" single 5000
Fat Boys  Fat Boys Pizza Box LP 12" vinyl picture disc
Gaslight Anthem Hold You Up 10" red Vinyl
Grateful Dead Live at Winterland (5/30/1971) double LP 
CeeLo Green/Donny Hathaway This Christmas 7" red & green vinyl
Merle Haggard Capitol Rarities 10" black vinyl 1200
Mayer Hawthorne KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic 10" black vinyl
Lee Hazlewood You Turned My Head Around: Lee Hazlewood Industries 
1967-1970 (11 x 7" Box Set)
Wanda Jackson Capitol Rarities 10" black vinyl 
Bert Jansch Blackwater Side Spiritual Pajamas 7" single 
JEFF The Brotherhood Dark Energy 7" vinyl 
Jellyfish Stack-a-Tracks Double CD set 
Joan Jett Bad Reputation LP w/ bonus CD 180g clear vinyl LP
Ethan Johns Whip Poor Will 7" single 
Norah Jones Little Broken Hearts Remix EP 10" black vinyl 
George Jones United Artists Rarities 10" black vinyl 
King Diamond No Presents For Christmas 12" picture disc 
Bettye LaVette More Thankful, More Thoughtful EP
Love Forever Changes  180g vinyl w/bonus 7"
Lucero Live at Sun Studios  7" single 
Lumineers Winter EP 10" vinyl 
M83 Reunion remix 12” LP 
Mad Season "River of Deceit"/"I Don't Know Anything" (live) 10" colored vinyl 
Biz Markie  The Biz Never Sleeps 12" picture disc
John Mayer The Complete 2012 Performances Collection 12" vinyl 
Mogwai A Wrenched Virile Lore double 12" colored vinyl
My Morning Jacket "It Makes No Difference" (Live Ft. Brittany Howard) 10"
Nirvana 20th Anniversary Edition of Incesticide 45RPM Edition 
Buck Owens Buck Sings Eagles 10" black vinyl 
Primus Green Naugahyde 10"
Tyler Ramsey  "Raven Shadow"/"Black Pines" 10" vinyl  
Reservoir Dogs Soundtrack 12" colored vinyl 
Rockabye Baby Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of The Flaming Lips LP
The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones (EP) 7" single 
Asobi Seksu/Boris Split 7" single
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros/Aaron Embry Community Vagrant 7" 
Joe Strummer Live at Acton Town Hall double 12" vinyl 
Teddy Thompson Window Up Above 7" single 
Tomahawk Stone Letter 7" single  
Toro Y Moi  So Many Details  7" single 
Various Artists Death May Be Your Santa CD 
Various Artists Moonrise Kingdom (Original Score) 10" black vinyl 
Various Artists Obscure Giants of Acoustic Guitar trading cards
The White Stripes “Hotel Yorba” (Live at the Hotel Yorba) b/w “Rated X” (Live 
at the Hotel Yorba) 7" red opaque vinyl
The White Stripes “Fell in Love With a Girl” b/w “I Just Don’t Know What to 
Do With Myself” 7" red opaque vinyl
The White Stripes “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” b/w “Stop Breaking 
Down” 7" red opaque vinyl
Lucinda Williams / Michael Chapman "That Time of Night" 10" vinyl 
Link Wray and The Raymen "Big City After Dark", “Hold It,” “Dance 
Party Pts. 1 & 2”  7" single
Frank Zappa Why Don'cha Do Me Right, Big Leg Emma 7" single
There's even more, but I can't ruin the surprises and child-like wonders that will still await you when you hit up your local record stores, I just can't. Which stores are participating?

Record Theatre (both locations), 1800 Main St. Buffalo and 3500 Main St. Amherst
Spiral Scratch Records, which will also be featuring live music and Amy's Food Truck. 291 Bryant St. Buffalo
M&B Record Exchange, 207 Delaware St. Tonawanda
Music Matters, 527 Cayuga Dr. Niagara Falls
No matter where you are in WNY, there's a record store for you this Friday, where people are nice, everything's copacetic, and the music is going to be good. To hell with that other noise. Sleep Thanksgiving off (cuz you tied one on- like your supposed to) and hit up a local record store to snag some neat stuff and do some holiday shopping. It's good for the soul.

Cliff Parks
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Record Store Day Presents: The Black Friday Releases



Today marks one of the most horrifying events of the year. The official kick off to the holiday season, Black Friday is upon us, folks. As big box retailers gear up to open their doors at midnight, the Record Store Day (RSD) crew is fighting back. Rather than driving you into major retail store with low prices (in hopes that you'll buy more than the discounted items), artists are offering special, limited edition releases available in independent record stores starting on Black Friday.

Among this year's releases are The Black Keys' "Lonely Boy" on vinyl, as well as others from the likes of Ryan Adams, The Civil Wars, and even the Beatles and Bob Dylan. What's really great about the whole idea is the the RSD team is finding a way to stick it to the man more than once a year in choosing to celebrate the actual works themselves - in a format other than mp3 nonetheless - rather than the spirit of spending that often takes over the holiday season.

About 900 independent record stores are slated to celebrate RSD's Black Friday including stores in the UK, Canada, France, Germany and Holland, and luckily we'll have access to the releases in Buffalo as well at Record Theatre and Spiral Scratch. Even better than that, some stores have the option to sell the releases online so you won't have to fight the crowds to obtain what you're looking for.

The Black Friday releases aren't nearly as numerous as the yearly RSD releases as RSD usually generates about 300 different ones whereas Black Friday will see about 35. A complete listing of all that will be offered can be viewed on the RSD website (availability of the releases varies by store).

So if you're looking for a great way to rebel against the traditional Black Friday standards of retail gluttony, then browse the releases and get your hands on some excellent collector's items and support your local independent record store. You might even get some free swag (like a limited edition Flexi disc from The Kills when you buy their album Blood Pressures) for going against the grain.
Brianne Galli
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