I decided to go after all but not early. The first person arrived at 10 PM the night before apparently and it’s a small shop so it takes ages to get people in and back out the door. I eventually wandered in to town at lunch time, arriving at Seismic around 1 PM to stand in a queue about 10 deep for 15 minutes before getting in, which was nice.
I was only expecting to get 1 of the records I wanted, as I was arriving so late and that was the The Future Sound Of London release as they never seem to sell that well around here.
In 1986 iconic group The Future Sound of London released the UK Top 40 chart album “Dead Cities”, from which came a track “Yage”. Such has been the interest in this masterpiece of electronica over the years that the guys have been back into the studio to revisit it. Here, on this limited edition, individually numbered LP press exclusively for 2019′ s Record Store Day comes the results. “Yage 2019” takes the core of the original and rebuilds it. All together there are eleven tracks reconstructions and interpretations, woven together (as FSOL do) into a 42 minute dreamscape journey across the 2 sides of vinyl. Only 1000 copies of this release will be pressed on vinyl.
Which is exactly what I was expecting to find, so that was good. £27, not so good for a single album, but these things are always expensive on RSD. I then immediately found this:
First Release on Vinyl . Limited Numbered Edition on Transparent Red Vinyl. Italian director Renato de Maria’ s 2009 crime drama La Prima Linea (The Front Line) takes us back to the late seventies and the home-grown Italian terrorist cell of the same name. Based on the real memoirs of a Prima Linea member, Sergio Segio (played by Riccardo Scamarcio) the militant underground organisation employs violence to achieve their political ends and ultimately to attempt to free Sergio’ s lover, Susanna, from prison.The beautiful and melancholic soundtrack is instantly recognisable as Max Richter’ s work, making its debut here on vinyl for Record Store Day. Richter is a respected composer in his own right, having accumulated a large fanbase for his studio albums (Memoryhouse, The Blue Notebooks and most recently, Sleep). He has also won multiple awards and nominations for his soundtracks including Waltz With Bashir, Lore, The Leftovers and most recently Mary Queen of Scots.To accompany this release, Silva Screen have pressed a limited edition of Max Richter’ s “The Leftovers” on Transparent Red Vinyl which is currently available.
Also on my list, so I’d got 2, which means the day is going much better than expected rather quickly. And then a third from my list was right there in a box on the floor at my feet:
The Fall is the fourth studio album by British virtual band Gorillaz. The album was officially announced on 20 December 2010 as a holiday gift to fans. The Fall was first released on 25 December 2010 to stream for free on the Gorillaz website, only available as a download for paying members of the band’ s Sub-Division club, a premium access campaign the band ran throughout 2010. The album features fewer guest artists than previous Gorillaz albums; collaborators include Mick Jones and Paul Simonon of The Clash and Bobby Womack. 1 x 140g 12″ colour tbc (It’s green) vinyl album for RSD 2019.
So I’m happy at this point but conscious that the cost is increasing every time I find something. Still, I got 3 and didn’t have to get up early so, on balance, all is good. Then I found these:
Soundtrack to a series of choreographed performances from the Iceland Dance Company, originally commissioned for Sigur Rós’ s Nordur og nidur festival at Christmas 2017. Choreographer Valdimar Johansson was granted access to unreleased Sigur Rós material, as well as multitracks of chosen songs from the band’ s catalogue, and personally created a score of high Nordic drama. “The best thing we’ ve done in ages,” said Jonsi on hearing Variations On Darkness for the first time. Vinyl exclusive to Record Store Day. Limited edition on black heavyweight 12″ vinyl. Spinned sleeve with printed with special inks.Soundtrack to brand new dance work by leading Taiwanese choreographer Tsung-lung, being premiered in Taipei to coincide with Record Store Day. Cheng Tsung-Lung chose his favourite music from throughout Sigur Rós’ s career, which was then twisted, bent and broken, and finally added to in the band’ s Reykjavik studio to create a new perspective for the Cloud Gate dance company. Vinyl exclusive to Record Store Day. Limited edition on black heavyweight 12″ vinyl. Spinned sleeve with printed with special inks.
That was my budget blown, however, I had managed to obtain everything I set out to get with no real effort whatsoever. I didn’t even go to Head, the other record shop, because at this point I had no reason to. Then, somebody still queuing outside sent a question in to ask if the Olafur Arnalds album was still available, apparently it was and as it was 6th on my list if I could afford it (I couldn’t) I found it and got that as well (there was more than 1 copy so the guy outside would have got his). Then I stopped, because I knew there was more I could get and I really had completely blown my budget. But I was very, very happy to have everything I wanted.
Special Limited Edition of re:member – There are many elements that make this new exclusive edition of remember so special. Starting with the five different bespoke artworks – shipped at random across the globe – and including brand new never-heard-before recordings of Olafur’s incredible string quartet on a beautiful 7” LP. All of it inserted in a shiny PVC sleeve and available exclusively on this physical edition. This will truly be a collector’s item – try and find all 5 around the world!
Stu, who runs Seismic, did a fantastic job under what are difficult circumstances for such a small space.
I almost bought the Suede album but it was just too expensive, £37 I think, but it was a triple. I was tempted by the Mighty Boosh as well.
On April 13th 2019 Record Store Day rolls around again. I found myself scrolling through the full alphabetical list of available releases hoping there was nothing there that I absolutely had to have, I got to F. Now there has to be something inherently wrong to be looking at a list of records and not wanting to find anything so I took a little time to consider why I felt this way, the answer was threefold:
1. Inconvenience – Last year I arrived in the early hours of the morning at the record store to find myself far back in the queue. I was there for several hours and didn’t get my top two picks (still don’t have them).
2. Expense – There are probably 20 albums on the list that I’d be happy to buy, That’s going to work out at between four to five hundred pounds, which I don’t have right now and is more than I’ve ever spent in 1 hit on records.
3. Disappointment – It’s inevitable. The one year I managed to pick up everything I was hoping for I had to resort to ebay and paid 3 times the list price, which I don’t plan on doing again.
This time I have 5 top picks, which are:
The Future Sound of London – Yage 2019
In 1986 iconic group The Future Sound of London released the UK Top 40 chart album “Dead Cities”, from which came a track “Yage”. Such has been the interest in this masterpiece of electronica over the years that the guys have been back into the studio to revisit it. Here, on this limited edition, individually numbered LP press exclusively for 2019′ s Record Store Day comes the results. “Yage 2019” takes the core of the original and rebuilds it. All together there are eleven tracks reconstructions and interpretations, woven together (as FSOL do) into a 42 minute dreamscape journey across the 2 sides of vinyl. Only 1000 copies of this release will be pressed on vinyl.
Gorillaz – The Fall
The Fall is the fourth studio album by British virtual band Gorillaz. The album was officially announced on 20 December 2010 as a holiday gift to fans. The Fall was first released on 25 December 2010 to stream for free on the Gorillaz website, only available as a download for paying members of the band’ s Sub-Division club, a premium access campaign the band ran throughout 2010. The album features fewer guest artists than previous Gorillaz albums; collaborators include Mick Jones and Paul Simonon of The Clash and Bobby Womack. 1 x 140g 12″ colour tbc vinyl album for RSD 2019.
Max Richter – La Prima Linea
First Release on Vinyl Limited Numbered Edition on Transparent Red Vinyl Italian director Renato de Maria’ s 2009 crime drama La Prima Linea (The Front Line) takes us back to the late seventies and the home-grown Italian terrorist cell of the same name. Based on the real memoirs of a Prima Linea member, Sergio Segio (played by Riccardo Scamarcio) the militant underground organisation employs violence to achieve their political ends and ultimately to attempt to free Sergio’ s lover, Susanna, from prison.The beautiful and melancholic soundtrack is instantly recognisable as Max Richter’ s work, making its debut here on vinyl for Record Store Day. Richter is a respected composer in his own right, having accumulated a large fanbase for his studio albums (Memoryhouse, The Blue Notebooks and most recently, Sleep). He has also won multiple awards and nominations for his soundtracks including Waltz With Bashir, Lore, The Leftovers and most recently Mary Queen of Scots.To accompany this release, Silva Screen have pressed a limited edition of Max Richter’ s “The Leftovers” on Transparent Red Vinyl which is currently available.
Sigur Rós – Variations on Darkness
Soundtrack to a series of choreographed performances from the Iceland Dance Company, originally commissioned for Sigur Rós’ s Nordur og nidur festival at Christmas 2017. Choreographer Valdimar Johansson was granted access to unreleased Sigur Rós material, as well as multitracks of chosen songs from the band’ s catalogue, and personally created a score of high Nordic drama. “The best thing we’ ve done in ages,” said Jonsi on hearing Variations On Darkness for the first time. Vinyl exclusive to Record Store Day. Limited edition on black heavyweight 12″ vinyl. Spinned sleeve with printed with special inks.
Sigur Rós – Lunar Halo 22″
Soundtrack to brand new dance work by leading Taiwanese choreographer Tsung-lung, being premiered in Taipei to coincide with Record Store Day. Cheng Tsung-Lung chose his favourite music from throughout Sigur Rós’ s career, which was then twisted, bent and broken, and finally added to in the band’ s Reykjavik studio to create a new perspective for the Cloud Gate dance company. Vinyl exclusive to Record Store Day. Limited edition on black heavyweight 12″ vinyl. Spinned sleeve with printed with special inks.
verian.wordpress.com 