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Record Store Day 2017 at Rough Trade

a guide to NYC #RSD18 in-store performances, events, free beer & more

Record Store Day is this Saturday (4/21) and brings with it a cornucopia of exclusive vinyl being pressed-up just for the day. (We’ve got some recommendations on that front.) Here in NYC there are plenty of stores that will be stocking these RSD18 exclusives and entice you into stopping by and dropping some dough, some of them are presenting live music, free swag, free beer and other incentives. Even if you don’t own a turntable, there’s probably something to bring you out. Here’s a roundup of Record Store Day events in NYC.

Rough Trade, as usual, is the biggest game in town with 500+ exclusive titles available when they open their doors at 9 AM on Saturday morning. (Expect the longest lines too.) You don’t have to wait in that line, though, if you’re not trying to buy RSD18 exclusives and just want to go in for the free live performances that start at noon and include Bambara (noon), Chris Stamey of the dB’s (1 PM), Wooing (2 PM), Titus Andronicus (3 PM), The Shacks (4 PM), plus DJ sets from Sinkane (5 PM) and Lushlife (6 PM). Additionally, there’s an installation based on Speedy Ortiz’s upcoming album Twerp-Verse, and there will be free tastings of Brooklyn Brewery beers for those 21 and over in the Sonos Listening Room from 4 – 6 PM. More info on Rough Trade’s RSD activities is here.

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Just down the street from Rough Trade is Halcyon Records (74 Wythe, in the same building as Output), which will be open at 10 AM and they’ve got a roster of guest DJs spinning all day including Jacques Renault, Nik Mercer, Rissa Garcia, Julia Govor, EmmaNice Dz, David Paglia, Amourette, Truncate, Heidi Sabertooth, DJ Spooky, R Gamble, thejass, and rrao. More info is here.

Heading further north, Academy Records Annex in Greenpoint (85 Oak St) will open at 10 AM and will have lots of RSD18 exclusives. Later in the day, there will be live performances by Velveteen Rabbit and a “mystery band.” They usually have coffee in the morning for those waiting in line and sometimes there’s beer once the mayhem has died down.

Elsewhere North Brooklyn: Earwax in Williamsburg (167 N. 9th) will open at 11 AM (“maybe 10:30  if there’s a line”), and Captured Tracks in Greenpoint (195 Calyer) will open a noon; both will have a selection of RSD titles. Record Grouch in Greenpoint (986 Manhattan Ave) won’t have any RSD exclusives but they will have boxes of $1 records (and it’s just a great store).

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Over in Manhattan, Turntable Lab will open at 10 AM and this year they’ve got a dedicated pop-up shop for all RSD18 exclusives across the street from their store at City Of Saints Roasters (79 E 10th St.). You can check out what RSD18 releases they’ll be carrying now and they’ll have a printable list beginning Friday that you can bring with you for faster checkout. They’re also giving away free TTL totes with any RSD purchase and they’ll have guest DJs spinning all day, lineup TBA.

Boutique-y shop Limited to One in the East Village (221 E. 10th St) will be open at 10 AM and they’ve got an exclusive-to-them special edition 10″ lathe cut Jeff Cuadill (Gameface) record titled Waves of Conversation: The Songs of R.E.M. with only 50 copies made.They’ll also be selling “rare limited items” that haven’t been sold at the shop before, and there will be in-store performances with Second Letter (members of Farside, Burning Airlines), Graduation Speech (Kevin Day of Aspiga), Jared Hunt (Scandals & Mercy Union), and Popeye V (Farside).

Long-running Greenwich Village record store Generation Records (210 Thompson) will be open at 10 AM and will stock many RSD exclusives. As they usually do, they’ll host some in-store performances in the afternoon, lineup TBA.

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If you’re in Manhattan and need more record stores: Good Records (215 E. 5th) will be open at noon with a “tasteful selection of new and used vinyl (including but not limited to #RSD18 releases); Academy Records  in the East Village (415 E. 12th St) will be open at 10 AM and the 12 W. 18th St location of Academy Records & CDs opens at 11 AM, both will have RSD18 exclusives.

If you really want to get a jump on things, Astoria, Queens’ HiFi Records will open at 8 AM and there will be swag bags for the first 200 paying customers. They’ll have a selection of Record Store Day exclusives, plus they’ve got a sale going on:

33% off all USED LPs, 45% off used 45rmps records, 78rpm records for ONLY 78 cents, plus buy 3 new records and get the 4th one 50% OFF and all electronics and hifi accessories are 10% OFF – PRETTY MUCH everything else in the store will be 10% off. (*excluding RSD releases)

HiFi will also have live music in the afternoon with Better Head, Matt Sucich, Supersmall, Ruby Rae, Kevin Goldhahn, and DJ Amazin A. More details here.

There’s also the 2018 Record Store Day Crawl where you’ll spend the day be chauffeured around on a bus to various record stores, serenaded by Irish band Ash along the way (sold out).

Over in Ford, NJ, Vintage Vinyl will be open at 8 AM with “hundreds” of RSD titles in stock.

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Not happening on Saturday but RSD-related: for Record Store Day, Kanine Records is releasing the soundtrack to cult classic 1987 skateboard film The Search for Animal Chin (which starred s “Bones Brigade” skate team of Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero, Mike McGill, Lance Mountain and Tommy Guerrero). William Santschi‘s synthtastic score will be released for the first time ever, and is being pressed on double vinyl and comes with a fold-out poster, and downloads of both the soundtrack and the movie itself. Kanine is throwing a release party for the soundtrack at Brooklyn’s Wonders of Nature on Thursday (4/19) with displays of ’80s Powell & Peralta Board Artwork from Eric Pinto’s private collection, plus special giveaways, a live band performance from Nastie Band and more. It’s free (21+) and more details here.