Vinyl fans’ favourite day of the year—Record Store Day—is tomorrow, providing limited edition and first-ever releases from Australian artists you know and love.
Record Store Day isn’t just a celebration of physical media; it’s also a day to honour and support independent music retailers.
In addition to the exclusive releases that populate Record Store Day celebrations, the day will hold special in-store performances, boundless crate digging, artists signings, extended trade and special deals. You can find your local participating record store and contact them about what they’ve ordered for the big day here.
To commemorate their own RSD releases, several Australian artists have teamed up with The Music to detail their favourite records in their collections.
Montaigne
Record pick: Party Gatory Purgatory by James Acaster
I’m a bit biased about this record because I was lucky enough to be a part of it, but this is an album that James Acaster produced and played drums on.
It was so cool to be asked to write and perform on songs with so many other artists I adore. It was because of this record that Yoni Wolf and I connected, and I recorded some vocals for his impending album.
Musically, it’s quite incredible that James was able to marry so many people’s voices and styles, especially since he was receiving things piecemeal during the peak of the pandemic.
It’s a real testament to the artistry of everyone involved. And at the bottom of it all, I really love the music. It feels deeply alive.
RSD release: Glorious Heights LP (Saffron Yellow Vinyl)
RSD Instore: Exclusive signing / meet and greet at Hum Records in Sydney at 3 pm
Sons Of The East
Record Pick: Rumours By Fleetwood Mac
It’s always incredibly tough trying to pick a favourite record, but it just had to be Rumours by Fleetwood Mac.
Fleetwood Mac has always been a huge inspiration for our band, and this record truly has it all. The melodies, the harmonies, Christine McVie’s beautiful vocals (my personal favourite) and all the mythology/chaos that surrounds the album’s creation will forever blow me away. I could go on, but it’s fair to say there’s a reason this record did what it did.
This specific vinyl was gifted to us by some lovely fans before a show in Chicago last year. They had previously reached out to us and asked about some of our influences and favourite bands.
Right before the show we were absolutely blown away when they handed us a record each. As we looked at the covers, we saw that each album had been signed by the artist. They told us the stories from their recent travels, including all the memorabilia stores they shuffled through to find these specific albums. To receive an album that holds such personal significance to me from an individual on the other side of the world who has created their own experience with our music was truly special.
RSD release: Palomar Parade LP (RSD Exclusive Red Vinyl)
SO.Crates
From Cazeaux O.S.L.O. (Vocals) – Record Pick: Handscapes by The Piano Choir
My favourite record in my collection changes like the weather, but today Handscapes by The Piano Choir on the Strata-East label is occupying that space.
The session was recorded in 1972 in what sounds like a church or a community hall, with a choir of pianos, harpsichord, and African percussion and vocals. It is a straight-up zone, and every time I listen to it I’m transported there and fascinated by the journey my attention and focus go on.
Always something new, weird, wild, and deeply soulful. I have to keep my ears to the east.
From Scomes (Producer)
Record Picks: Music By Lee Mason by Lee Mason and his Orchestra & Small Group Sounds by René Costy And His Music
It’s hard to pick a favourite, but these two have a special place in my heart.
Many years ago DJ Kuya (R.I.P) hipped me to an auction were the contents of an old ABC storage unit were being liquidated. I missioned out to the auction house to check out the pre-auction viewing and saw two familiar titles in a crate full of library records I didn’t recognise and knew I could take a gamble on the rest, so I spent every cent I had on as many crates as I could win.
From memory, I got about four crates of various classic library joints, and it worked out to about $4 a record. I ended up with double of these two and sold one of each on Discogs for more than I paid for the entire batch.
I will never have a come up like that again, it was a diggers dream come true.
RSD release: B-Sides and Rarities
DeepFaith
Record pick: Low by David Bowie
Firstly, this album hails from a minstrel troupe that seems to have traversed from realms beyond as though plucked from the distant firmament. Enveloped in raw essence yet meticulously shaped by the hand of BRIAN ENO, it resonates unlike any other, striking a delicate equilibrium betwixt the primal and the mechanized.
Indeed, it casts a profound influence upon the melodic tapestry of our forthcoming EP, set to grace the hallowed halls of Record Store Day. I have ever been enamoured with recordings that imbue the very essence of the musicians within, eschewing excess adornment for a palpable human touch.
Secondly, it bears the banner of audacity, daring to place an instrumental opus as its inaugural opus, perhaps the most accessible of its offerings. Moreover, it boldly relegates the latter half of its vinyl domain, Side B, to the ambient, a venture hitherto uncharted. Were it unveiled in our present epoch, it would still stand as a paragon of conceptual beauty.
Thirdly, “Warsawa” emerges as a sublime anthem to commence the morn, accompanied by the fragrant elixir of coffee, a testament to its evocative power. Truly, it is a symphony that resonates through the corridors of time.”
RSD release: Gloria In Tumultu, Veritas In Fragore, Prophetus Insanum EP
RECORD STORE DAY
AUSTRALIAN RELEASE LIST 2024
Montaigne – Glorious Heights – 1LP (Saffron Yellow Vinyl)
Ian Moss – Live At The Enmore – Double LP (RSD Blue Vinyl)
Tasman Keith – A Colour Undone LP (Clear Vinyl)
The Wiggles – Yummy Yummy LP – Dorothy The Dinosaur Version (Green And Yellow Splatter)
The Terrys – Skate Pop LP 4/20 Version (Clear Green Vinyl)
Time Capsule. Australian Sounds. 1985-1994. Volume One. (Double LP compilation).
Sons Of The East – Palomar Parade LP (RSD Exclusive Red Vinyl)
Deep Faith – Gloria In Tumultu, Veritas In Fragore, Prophetus Insanum EP (Clear Pink Vinyl)
James Johnson – Raised Like That LP RSD ‘Retro’ Version (Orange Vinyl)
Lord Knows – Lord Knows CD (via Northside Records)
