We hope you have all been saving your money, because Record Store Day 2012, the vinyl celebration’s fifth anniversary, is shaping up to be one of the best yet. Here’s an in-depth look at some of our favorite reissues, exclusives, and releases which we think are worth lining up for this year. You can find the entire release list over at the official Record Store Day website along with a database of participating stores near you.

US Releases:

Pharcyde – Bizarre Ride II: The Singles – Delicious : 7×7″ : 2,500

Definitely one of the cooler reissues this RSD, Bizarre Ride II is getting what can only be described as the ultimate package. Listed online at $55 dollars you’ll get a 2xCD remastering of the classic hip-hop album, seven 7”s, expanded liner notes, a poster, a puzzle and vintage photos of the group all put together in a unique flip-top box. It’s definitely been a bizarre ride for the group since the release of this historic record, but there is no denying Bizarre Ride II’s place in history, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.

T. Rex – Electric Warrior – Rhino : 6×7″ : 2,825

No need to hide my bias, I think Electric Warrior is one of if not thee greatest rock album of all time. And this year on RSD, this classic Marc Bolan album will get a significant facelift. Packaged in a beautiful clamshell box, Rhino will release the entire album along six 7” records, including the album b-side “Raw Ramp.” Each record sleeve will contain a portion of a photo of Bolan, combing the records to reveal the rock star in his prime. The Rhino press release listed the boxset at $50, a pretty novel price considering the exclusivity and the fact that Bolan collectors drive the price up on releases like this very quickly. In the UK, Polydor is also said to be reissuing the record on 2xCD and vinyl as well.

Destroyer – Destroyer’s Rubies – Merge : 2xLP : 2,000

There’s no denying that Canadian rock group Destroyer completely owned 2011. Kaputt was one of our favorite records of the year, and on the band’s ninth studio album they gained more fans than ever before thanks to hits like “Kaputt” and “Blue Eyes.” So it only fits that they would rerelease one of their best albums on Records Store Day. Destroyer’s Rubies is getting a US vinyl printing for the first time ever, and on ruby red wax to boot. The double LP will also feature a twenty minute bonus track titled “Loscil’s Rubies” mixed by Scott Morgan who also worked on the bonus track for Kaputt’s double pressing. It’s an exhausting but incredible album, and with the way so many people fell head-over-heels for Kaputt, I have to imagine this special release will sell quick.

Gorillaz, James Murphy, Andre 3000 – “Do Ya Thang” – Capitol : 10″ : 500

I think in our crazy, fast paced world, where cycles of hype only last a week (unless you’re Lil B apparently) and everything is either the worst or the greatest, we tend to throw aside historic moments as if they’re expected and completely taken for granted. “Do Ya Thang” might be an example of that, the 14 minute epic from Gorillaz, Andre 3000 and James Murphy. Aside from hip-hop and rap, so rare are these collaborations that this group of historic musicians deserve a round of applause just for putting anything together. But the final product exceeded many critic’s expectations, an expansive and bombastic track that is a testament to the artists’ creative energy. “Do Ya Thang” deserves celebration.

Animal Collective – Transverse Temporal Gyrus Domino : 12″ LP : 3,200

Named for the band’s exhibit at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, Transverse Temporal Gyrus might not be the new Animal Collective album we’re anxiously awaiting, but any new material from the seminal group is good news. The 12” is said to be a collage of different sections of music from the performances, each of which were three hours long, so it will no doubt be interesting to see how this record is mixed. To go along with the launch, oft Animal Collective collaborator Danny Perez will launch a website featuring visuals from the performance and a stream of the longer versions of the tracks, so if you don’t scoop this limited release you can still check out what Animal Collective have been up to since Merriweather Post Pavillion.

Shabazz Palaces – Live at KEXP – Sub Pop : 12″ : 2,000

Sure you could head over to Youtube and fire up Shabazz Palaces’ live session at Seattle’s KEXP from this past year. But it’s not every day that you get a chance to own one of those awesome sessions on vinyl. The space rap duo laid down some of their best tracks from 2011’s smash Black Up, and even though the album was a bit inaccessible for some, the live tracks are immaculately crafted and an example of some of the most unique hip-hop being made today. Pressed on gorgeous purple vinyl, this release is sure to jump off the shelves this April.

Arcade Fire – “Sprawl II” – Merge : 12″ : 3,000

What’s there to say about the Grammy winning album The Suburbs that hasn’t already been said? Arcade Fire have a long history of 7”, 12” single and other various releases, so 2012’s RSD release is nothing too particularly new for the Canadian collective. The 12” single will feature Damien Taylor remixes of both “Sprawl II (Beyond Mountains)” and “Ready to Start” on the b-side. Taylor and Arcade Fire have worked together in the past, so expect a tight and well produced pair of tracks, and a nice little compliment to fill out an already heaping stack of various Arcade Fire material.

Danny Brown – XXX – Fool’s Gold : 2×12″ + 7″ : 1,000

The proliferation of indie music blogs influencing hip-hop has been a trend I’ve loathed other the past two years or so, but there’s no doubt that Danny Brown might be the next big thing. Last year’s freely distributed mixtape for Fool’s Gold took the industry by storm, and now the nineteen track tape is getting a proper vinyl pressing on two 12” and an additional white 7”. XXX was an album that took me a long time to get into, but judging by everything the enigmatic MC has done since this mixtape, grabbing this limited release will be a wise investment.

The Refused – The Shape of Punk to Come – Epitaph : 2×12″ : 500

The Swedish punk band were “cool” a bit before my time, but the band’s influence on underground rock music since their time has been undeniable. So it’s only fitting that Epitaph is rereleasing the group’s final album The Shape of Punk to Come in a gorgeous, colored 2xLP package. Along with the remastered LP, the package will also include a poster and expanded liner notes.

UK Exclusives:

2 Many DJs – As Heard on Radio Soulwax Pt. 2 – Play it Again Sam : 12″ : 2,000

I don’t even want to think about the copywriting nightmare that the Dewale brothers must have gone through to try and make this work, but on RSD in the UK the historic mixtape As Heard on Radio Soulwax Pt. 2 will be getting a proper physical release. The schizophrenic, wide-eyed release was the third in a long line of these early mash-up albums for the Dutch duo, but Pt. 2 always remained the most successful both critically and commercially. Considering all the crazy CD bootlegs and fan forums dedicated to Soulwax/2 Many DJs, it will be nice to have an official vinyl pressing offered to those loyal UK fans.

J Dilla – “Think Twice” – BBE : 7″ : 225

If there’s one artist from this generation that has caused colossal uproar in the vinyl collecting and music preservation circles, it’s the late James Yancy. Detroit’s J Dilla may have left us early, but his legacy continues to live on, especially this year as BBE releases a special 7” for “Think Twice.” Backed with the excellent “E=MC2 (Feat. Common), this incredibly limited 7” is not one to miss.

Hot Chip – “Day and Night” – Domino : 12″ : 1,000

So this might be the most boring release on this list, but it just shows how excited I am at the prospect of any new Hot Chip. Domino will release a one sided 12” featuring a remix by Caribou lead man Dan Snaith’s alter ego Daphni. The two are a match made in heaven, so look out for the new single when you’re elbowing your way to the front of the line. Listen to the track here.

Battles – Dross Glop 4 – Warp : 12″ : 500

Battles’ Glass Drop seemed like a rather divisive album in the band’s catalogue, but the exciting and fun album was one I kept coming back to throughout 2011. And if nothing else, if you have to applaud the band for supporting the album with a ton of remixes and fan service. And with Dross Glop, the fourth release in the remix series, the band collects all the prior work and adds a ton of new edits to make one awesome package. Collaborators include Gang Gang Dance, Shabazz Palaces, The Field and Pat Mahoney among others.

In this weekly feature we’ll compile our top 10 most viewed pieces of new music from the week preceding. These can be anything from completely new songs to live versions of new songs to new remixes of slightly older songs to covers that have just surfaced. Stay up to date wit the week’s most talked about music and vote in our “Best of the Best” vote after our rundown.
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In this weekly feature we’ll compile our top 10 most viewed pieces of new music from the week preceding. These can be anything from completely new songs to live versions of new songs to new remixes of slightly older songs to covers that have just surfaced. Stay up to date wit the week’s most talked about music and vote in our “Best of the Best” vote after our rundown.
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Welcome back to our the Top 10 Tracks of the Week. In this weekly feature we’ll compile our top 10 most viewed pieces of new music from the week preceding. These can be anything from completely new songs to live versions of new songs to new remixes of slightly older songs to covers that have just surfaced. As long as it’s new music that we’re hearing for the first time this week, it’s eligible.
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Welcome to Beats Per Minute’s new weekend feature, the Top 10 Tracks of the Week. In this weekly feature we’ll compile our top 10 most viewed pieces of new music from the week preceding. These can be anything from completely new songs to live versions of new songs to new remixes of slightly older songs to covers that have just surfaced. As long as it’s new music that we’re hearing for the first time this week, it’s eligible.
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For our second issue of Label Spotlight, we caught up with Strange Famous Records front man and lead artist Sage Francis, who founded the indie label in 1996 as a way of self-releasing his own material.

One Thirty BPM: First and foremost, could you briefly describe Strange Famous as a label? How many artists and releases are credited to the label, and how would you define its ‘sounds’?

Sage Francis: When I began pressing my own music I decided to use the name “Strange Famous Records.” Because, you know, having a label name makes a photocopied, hand-cut cassette tape cover look all that more official. I had to learn the business side of things through trial and error, but common sense and intuition go a long way. Eventually I had all sides of the business situated and I decided to start using my knowledge and resources to help out other artists I was working with. At that point, the SFR staff grew and the roster grew. I have no desire to expand into a monster company though. I want to keep things small enough where I can overlook each item and maintain as much quality control as possible while still having fun and doing interesting/unexpected stuff when I feel like it. I also don’t know if we’ll even be operating as a “label” down the line as no one knows how the industry will end up. To date, we’ve signed about 15 artists and we’ve taken on about 25 projects.

As for our sound, I suppose we’re mainly a collective of lyricists with an introspective lean. It’s underground emcee shit. We also have instrumental albums though, and some projects are just for fun. If you inspire and entertain me, and if I think you’re a trustworthy person who could benefit from having me obsess over every aspect of your art, you’re a good SFR candidate. Of course, you’ll eventually want to ring my throat or vice versa.

What was the drive behind heading up your own label?

It was basically out of necessity as there weren’t any labels checking for artists like me. Not until I proved I could build a strong fan base and, eventually, outsell most of the conventional artists they were previously jocking. Of course, at that point, after I had already done all of the dirty work, I didn’t really need a label’s help. What I mainly needed was distribution. I made some concessions along the way, working with various labels on various projects, but if I had enough capital early on I would have saved myself a lot of trouble. A lot has changed since back then, and I often feel overwhelmed with label duties, but it’s nice being able to make decisions to play the game or hate the game whenever I want.

What has surprised you most about running your own label that maybe you weren’t aware of as a signed artist?

I think I’m most surprised at how unreliable, lazy, and shady people are on all sides of the business. People are so desperate to get what they don’t deserve while doing as little work as possible. From “publicists” to “promoters” to “distributors” to “managers” and on and on and on. I know this shouldn’t come as a surprise, but it still blows my mind. Honestly, it doesn’t take much to move up in the system if you’re a competent and trustworthy person with a good work ethic.

Are there any unique release methods that Strange Famous either has pursued or is currently pursuing, be it digital or physical?

Everyone is obviously moving toward digital now, which means a lot of the old school methods of releasing albums are going the way of the dodo bird. Honestly, it bums me out. I like physical packaging. I enjoy the process of creating it, putting it together, handling it, and everything else. I don’t want to come up with digital package deals or thinking up innovative ways of pushing digital media. That’s not how I grew up experiencing and appreciating music. Alas, that’s what we have to do. In the meantime, I’m still going to come up with ways to make physical product enticing and available, even if it means going back to jailbreaking Kinkos machines. Currently I’m on a “personalize as much product as possible” kick.

What can we expect from you in the next few months? Long-term?

With the holidays coming up we’re going to be putting together specialized package deals which is usually what we do at our online store. I haven’t talked about the SFRstore yet, but I’ve found that dealing directly with our fans has been essential in keeping afloat as an indie label. This has been increasingly important as all the indie stores close down. Other than that, I’m working on a mixtape as well as an official album for 2012. Same with B. Dolan. We expect a collaborative album from Prolyphic and Buddy Peace. Cecil Otter is still working on his follow up album to Rebel Yellow which he says should be ready by next year. There are a couple other tricks up our sleeves as well, some crazy videos in the works, but nothing I can divulge at the moment. I expect next year to be very busy for us as far as music and shows are concerned.

More info:

Strange Famous Records website
Listen to Strange Famous on SoundCloud
Get Strange Famous updates on Twitter
Follow Sage Francis on Twitter

Label Spotlight is our new feature in which we take a look at an up-and-coming independent record label. For this premiere installment we sit down with Mike Naideau, cofounder of Long Island indie record label Life On An Island.

One Thirty BPM: Hey Mike, first off could you briefly describe your label? How many artists and releases are under its wing and what are its ‘sounds’?

Mike Naideau: Sure. “Life On an Island” has definitely always been more of a collective of close friends than a label. We began without any real intention of working on projects not involving people and bands and music that we all know and love! As a whole it has functioned accordingly, too. We all try to split costs and keep as many aspects of the whole process as local and personal as possible. Our friend Brian’s recording studio called “Blue Sunshine” has really been an indispensable resource for many of us.

So with that said we have somewhere around 20 artists under our wing, but it’s not so much a real wing, we’re all just friends. We’ve also released only single songs by a lot of artists on our summer compilations. At the end of this month we will have 30 physical releases (mostly cassettes and CDs but I see more vinyl in our future), which rules! Many are out of print and gone at this point, and a handful of others are just barely sticking around. Doing things in very limited editions has not only encouraged us to pay more attention to detail, but also to keep our attention present and focused on new projects and ideas.

As a whole, our stuff sits somewhere between some kinda guitar-heavy indie-rock and a post-punk influenced brand of pop-punk. Some of the Neato Fleets, Fuzzy Hell, Your Birthday, Brian Chaudhry and Screen House Music stuff dips a little deeper into the lo-fi realm, while the Giant Peach, For Serious This Time and Nude Beach stuff is a bit more rockin’ and the Haircut and Womyn Boiz stuff is just straight up crunch/crusty.

How did you start up the label? What prompted you to start it?

The label stemmed pretty naturally from a small group of friends from Northport, New York. It started some time in 2006. We had all been living near each other and working individually on home recordings for a few years at that point. It was a nice way to kind of bring everybody’s work together into a more dynamic, cohesive representation of what it meant to us to live and grow up in this pretty small town. Our first release was a cassette compilation of sorts that we called Story Of Man. It was a real tiny collaborative release that you can read a little more about thanks to the “Here On This Island” blog. We gave out a bunch of copies of this tape when we played our one and only show under this name that same year in a basement in Northport. It was a show with Wildebeest, Infinity Mirror and Brian Chaudhry. That’s kind of where it all began.

Summer tour 2010 by Brian Chaudhry

I think the primary motivation for many of us was to simply have an excuse that we felt was worthwhile to turn these intimate experiments into more tangible things, with artwork and explanations, that we could then literally hand to each other. We’ve all always valued when that kind of personal interaction exists alongside music. The whole scene was already thriving around here at that point, and we were all extremely lucky to be able to experience that era of musicians and house shows, much less participate in it. We were also definitely inspired by the ideologies behind some local labels such as Burn It Down/Rebuild and Rok Lok.

Our series of summer compilations is kind of our way of thanking a lot of these influential artists whom we respect a great deal, and whom have contributed so much over the years to the local music community. I don’t think this whole thing was ever actually intended to become a label, but it seems to have kind of naturally moved in that direction!

How have you seen the Long Island music scene change since you’ve got involved in it? Who are the prominent figures?

This whole thing began in 2006, when a lot of us were still in high school. But at that point there were a lot of super inspiring and accessible performances going on around Long Island. Many were in Huntington Station, various basements and garages in Northport and the short-lived Long Island Freespace in Ronkonkoma. Those shows were what instilled a lot of significant values in us with regards to our approach to music.

Allatoona by For Serious This Time

A raw and sincere intensity kept everybody coming back to these places. Some distinct bands were Bent Outta Shape, Latterman, Wildebeest, The Insurgent, Guadalupe, The Solidarity Pact, and Fellow Project. More often than not the music was all given out for free as burned CDs packaged in some kinda weird folded paper thing. Everything about it was personal and unintimidating.

Since then there has been an overall sort of migration from Long Island to other places in New York like Brooklyn and Queens. A lot of amazing bands have broken up, but a lot of new ones have formed!

How do you feel about technology such as Bandcamp as distribution methods?

Bandcamp is a useful page to host a lot of MP3s for people to hear and download for free. It’s the only site of that kind that we really use, and we primarily started using it as a simple way to make a bunch of our out-of-print releases more widely available. Not so much into the idea of selling things directly through Bandcamp though because they take some, but also because we’d rather handle that aspect of the process ourselves anyway.

We prefer to stay away from digital releases, yet they do help in making it easier and cheaper to reach a large audience. It’s just important to us to use these methods properly, like still putting a lot into the physical artwork of whatever you’re working on even if you’re offering a digital version too.

How has this year been for you as a label?

This has been our biggest year yet! We focused on putting out a bunch of limited edition cassettes early in the year, each with lots of personal attention, care and real nice hand-printed artwork, and then moved forward.

You can read more about these cassettes on our website, but here’s a quick summary: The first is Toxicology Songs, a 60-minute, magical full-length from NY-native Fuzzy Hell. She lives in Ireland most of the year but is also deeply supportive of and involved in the scene over here. There’s nothing else out there like this and we’re unbelievably grateful to be involved in the output of this music. The second is a collection of mostly acoustic, older songs from 2006-2008 by Long Island-based artist and musician Brian Chaudhry. This one personally meant a lot to us, and we think it will mean a lot to anyone who hears it. The third was a reissue of sorts, though we like to think of it as its first proper release. It is a record from Northport-based, hardcore grunge rockers Haircut. Though a couple years old it still shreds so hard, and it sounds pretty amazing blasting on cassette. We then also did a limited edition cassette version of upstate NY-based Summer People’s most recent full-length called Teamwork.

So that was the beginning of the year, but that was just the beginning of the year. Giant Peach and For Serious This Time both put out new EPs just a couple of months ago. Giant Peach’s People Don’t Believe Me EP was the next step forward for these dudes in their own brand of crunchy, melodic grunge-rock. Four songs, 20 minutes, pretty solid! For Serious This Time’s Weird Life EP is six songs of crisp, fluid pop-punk. This one was released on 12” as a split with Dead Broke Rekerds, which we were really psyched about! These two bands also went on a brief two-week US tour in June in support of their respective releases. For the tour we released a limited edition cassette, a split with each record on a side!

The Moon is the Eye of a T-Rex cloud by Giant Peach

Giant Peach

And now just recently we were able to be a part of two great digital releases: Small Plants, a sweet electro-lo-fi venture from Screen House Music, Nicky of For Serious This Time’s solo project, as well as Stay In The Sunlight, a real intricate, new EP from Northport’s Nightwalks.

What can we expect from you in the next couple months? The future?

We have a bunch of exciting things lined up for the fall. Very soon we’ll have CD versions of the new People Don’t Believe Me EP from Giant Peach. This digital edition will be pro-printed with all new artwork, and limited to 100! We are also really psyched to be putting out a limited edition cassette by Nude Beach called Live at Gunther’s. These both should be finished and available early-September at the latest!

Also in the works are a cassette of brand new material by Punks On Mars (this will be a split with Ratgum Records) and an amazing full-length CD by Fuzzy Hell. Come fall-time we will be working on the third in our series of cassette comps, with a lot of sweet unreleased stuff by a bunch of our favorite artists, as well as a new Giant Peach record joint-released with Rok Lok Records! That’s what we’re working on now, but there will no doubt be more to come.

What new artists (whether it be on your label or just in general) are you most looking forward to hearing new music from?

We are super excited for the Nude Beach, Punks On Mars and Fuzzy Hell releases! Aside from those, always looking forward to new stuff from The Fish, Iron Chic, Metacomet, and all the other Dead Broke bands, as well as our good friends in Fellow Project, Delay, Ink Mouth, and our buddy CH-ROM!

Blyngwie malmsteen by Palmkite

More info:

To hear a lot of the bands mentioned in this interview download Life On An Island’s Summer Compilation #2 for free.

See Giant Peach at the Rok Lok Records Showcase @ Mr. Beery’s in Bethpage, NY on 8/20/2011 w/ Deep Pockets, Brick Mower, Make It Plain, Vehicle Blues and Famous Laughs — Facebook Event

See For Serious This Time @ 2579 Montauk Hwy, Brookhaven NY on 8/21/2011 w/ Wax Phantom, Fat Shadow, Make It Plain and Warm Needles — Facebook Event

Life On An Island website
Bandcamp
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Photo by Christopher Alvarez
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