Record Store Day 2017 Vinyl Releases - The Fringes
Record Store Day 2017 is on April 22nd, 2017. Here we take a deeper look at the more underground / fringe / oddball exclusives on our RSD offering. You can check out part 1 of our picks here.
#dadtechno
Close To The Noise Floor - Formative UK Electronica 1975-1983 Vinyl 2LP
Cherry Red
Inspired by krautrock, the electronic musings of mid-career Pink Floyd and the DIY ethos of punk, a group of young UK musicians bored with guitars and drums turned to the cheap synthesizers and drum machines that were then widely available (and initially disregarded as soulless by traditional musicians) and stumbled on something fresh and new. This collection of proto-techno and minimal UK electronica has been whittled down to the 28 tracks best suited for vinyl listening (from the original 60 found on the 4xCD boxset) by Cherry Red. Many of these tracks are culled from small, hand-traded cassette runs and appear on vinyl for the first time. Fans of Minimal Wave, Throbbing Gristle and Cluster, this one is for you. Sign Up For Stock Notification on Product Page.
oddball digger favorite
Moondog: Moondog White Vinyl LP
Legacy
Moondog spent several decades living in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, often busking on the street corner, blind as a bat and donning a Viking cloak. Most of the local residents who knew him as “the Viking of 6th Avenue” were entirely unaware of his recording career. Moondog’s self-titled 1969 album for Columbia Records combines Native American sounds, avant-garde jazz and classical music with a minimalist ethos. This leftfield digger favorite is being reissued for the first time since 2003, and on colored vinyl for the first time ever. Sign Up For Stock Notification on Product Page.
the bloghaus nostalgia pick
Busy P & DJ Mehdi: Let The Children Techno Vinyl 2LP
Ed Banger Records
Sweat it out: originally released on CD in 2011 at the tail end of Ed Banger fever, Let The Children Techno is being given a full vinyl release for the first time ever for RSD 2017. Featuring tracks by usual suspects Breakbot, Mr. Oizo, Feadz and Frank Ocean collaborator SebastiAn, LTCT is notable for Busy P and DJ Mehdi reaching outside of their stable of crunchy electro purveyors to tap kindred spirits Skream, Flying Lotus and L-Vis 1990 for contributions. 18 tracks spread across two LPs, housed in replica gatefold “notebook” sleeve with fabric on spine. Sign Up For Stock Notification on Product Page.
the most effort to duplicate pick
Gil Melle: The Andromeda Strain Hexagon-Shaped Vinyl LP
Jackpot Records
Gil Melle’s soundtrack for The Andromeda Strain, a 1971 science fiction film directed by Robert Wise and based on a novel by Michael Crichton, was the first fully-electronic soundtrack released in the United States and has never been reissued here. Melle’s haunting pastiche of synthesizer experiments and atmospheric white noise will return for RSD 2017, thanks in part to Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein’s Stranger Things score reinvigorating interest in the analog synthesizer scores of John Carpenter, Wendy Carlos and others. Sourced from the original master tapes and presented in its original bizarrely-configured fold-out pod sleeve and hexagon-shaped vinyl. Sign Up For Stock Notification on Product Page.
the beyond obscure dub head pick
Creation Rebel: Starship Africa Gold Vinyl LP
On-U Sound
Before founding the massively influential UK dub label On-U-Sound, Adrian Sherwood had a false start with the lesser known 4D Rhythms imprint, releasing one LP and then abandoning the project to start On-U-Sound. That LP was Starship Africa by Creation Rebel, which Sherwood reissued on O.U.S. just a few years later. Listening to this wonderfully spaced out dub excursion, you can trace Sherwood’s signature heavyweight industrial sound back to the Jamaican originators but still feel his anything-goes disposition reverberating throughout. Out of print for 35 years and being released Stateside for the first time ever, this RSD2017 pressing comes on gold vinyl with a fold-out poster that includes unpublished photos and liner notes detailing the album’s creation. Sign Up For Stock Notification on Product Page.
the most-clicked-on-in-TTL-history pick
Ike Reiko: You, Baby 180 gram Yellow Vinyl LP + CD
Bamboo
The Woman Cannot Help It. Ike Reiko, a Japanese erotic film star-turned jazz singer, recorded this impossibly rare album of emphatic shouts and coos over loungey spy movie music in 1971 and then dropped out of the entertainment business. It has since become a holy grail for diggers of Japanese and just plain odd records. Only a handful of known copies of the original pressing exist, and several bootlegs over the years have prompted this first-ever fully-legit reissue on 180 gram yellow-colored vinyl; CD included. Sign Up For Stock Notification on Product Page.
the krautrock for hobbits pick
Sand: Golem 200 Gram Silver & Black Vinyl LP
Rotorelief
Sand, a drummerless trio of German experimental musicians, created this tripped-out swirl of psychedelic guitar, Bowie-esque lyrics and analog synth in 1974 with krautrock / kosmische luminary Klaus Schulze behind the boards. Original copies often fetch over a hundred dollars on the second hand market, and several recent represses by Rotorelief have been aggravatingly elusive. This deluxe reissue for RSD 2017, on silver & black colored vinyl with silver metallic redux of the original sleeve art, will also be hard to catch, as only 700 copies have been pressed. Sign Up For Stock Notification on Product Page.
the more minimal, the better pick
Led Er Est: Dust On Common Orange Vinyl LP
Mannequin Records
Dust On Common is the debut album by Brooklyn coldwave trio Led Er Est (featuring Shawn O’Sullivan of Further Reductions), released by defunct Brooklyn label Weird Records in 2009 and reissued for the first time for RSD2017 by coldwave specialists Mannequin. Original copies are incredibly scarce, so fans of Oppenheimer Analysis, Xeno & Oaklander and Cold Cave are advised to line up early for this modern minimalist gem. Sign Up For Stock Notification on Product Page.
Want to see more picks? Check out part 1!