On Record Store Day (RSD), a slew of major and independent labels are teaming up to release scores of special releases. Some, like a double-LP of Bruce Springsteen’s greatest hits, have 5,000 copies available at various stores across the world, while others, like the “Backwash” 7-inch from Pittsburgh experimental electronic band Black Moth Super Rainbow, are limited to just 500. Only 250 copies of a triple-LP from pioneering Midwestern emo act The Casket Lottery will make it to shelves around the globe (before some inevitably end up on online vinyl marketplace Discogs).
Lost in the hoopla of waking up early and crossing items off of your vinyl wishlist is the fact that local bands have been releasing their music on vinyl since the format was available. Your friendly neighborhood musician often has to wait while majors clog up the U.S.’ limited number of pressing plants (as of November 2017, there were an estimated 23 pressing plants in the U.S., according to Matt Earley, vice president at Gotta Groove Records, a pressing plant in Cleveland, Ohio).
That wasn’t the case for Tampa indie-rock band Empire Cinema, which is releasing just 50 translucent red copies of its self-titled debut full-length on RSD.
“We went through Jonathan [Berlin] and Walter [Hill] at VINYL Record Pressing,” frontman Brendon Hock told CL. The Atlantic Beach indie plant will press as few as 100 units, and boasts some of the fastest turnarounds in the industry. In all, Empire Cinema pressed 100 copies of the LP on the red vinyl and 200 more on black vinyl.
“I think the whole thing took maybe two months,” Hock added.
The luster of your limited-edition RSD pick-up may fade off as the months go on, but the impact you can make by buying a local’s record on vinyl goes a long way. In that spirit, we’ve compiled a list of local releases worth looking for when you’re in the scrum on Saturday.
Ask your frenzied record store employee for the local section. Click the titles below to hear the music.
Alexander & the Grapes — “Falling Apart”/”Seeds (Alternate Version)” This 2014 release came out on 300 pieces of “beer-colored vinyl” (at the same time as an Alexander & the Grapes double IPA from Cigar City Brewpub), and a few copies are still floating around in select Bay area shops.
Brother Cephus — Not That Important Seth and Gabe Davis lead their Tampa rock band through an album full of the uncertainty, anger and deliriousness of being a late-20s kid in Trump’s America. One of CL’s favorite local albums of 2017.
FINDING FORM
Career gets "Structures" to tape, and finally turns in its gripping debut full-length
Career — “Structures” This 2018 release from another one of Tampa’s best indie-rock bands clocks in at just 28 minutes, but it’s the kind of work that leaves a hole in your chest upon first listen thanks to piles and piles of dizzying, disorienting waves of distorted rock and frontman Ryan Fouche’s intense vocals.
combatwoundedveteran — Duck Down For The Torso Only 200 blue pieces from a second pressing exist, but the Tampa/New York grindcore band did release 2,000 mixed-color records in 2002.
CL PREMIERE
Empire Cinema ponders forever on "Sink Or Swim" — another track from its forthcoming self-titled LP
Empire Cinema — Empire Cinema The moody Tampa indie-rock trio finally releases its long-awaited self-titled debut full-length pressed at VINYL Record Pressing near Jacksonville, Florida. Set for formal release in a month, just 50 copies of translucent red will be available in local record shops on RSD.
CRATE DIGGER
Tampa punk vet Bob Suren's new book to be published in June
Failure Face — Discography 1993-1996 With 17 songs on side A and 10 on side B, this 2012 compilation from Give Praise Records compiles pretty much everything released by Bob Suren’s in-your-face, yet still-melodic and always angry hardcore. (Suren, also used to run revered punk record distro Sound Idea.) A 1993 self-titled 7-inch, ‘94’s All Pain No Gain 7-inch, a split with Florida metal band Ulcer, one track from a 1995 Amnesia compilation and Failure Face’s Burrito Records split LP with E.B.S. all make the cut on this one.
Gino and the Goons — Bastard Greasy, fun-loving garage rock from a goofy Tampa squad of modern rock and roll heroes. It’s a 10-inch, which means it won’t fit in with most of your record collection, but that’s kind of the point, right?
Guiltmaker — Dilemmas This 2009 LP from a now-defunct Tampa rock quartet came out on Kiss Of Death Records, and was limited to 130 copies on transparent red vinyl, 80 white copies and just over 300 regular black vinyl pieces.
Have Gun, Will Travel — Science From An Easy Chair White copies of this album from the Bradenton Americana heroes were pressed in Nashville, and the triumphant record still stands proud three years after its initial release.
CD REVIEW: SCIENCE FROM AN EASY CHAIR
Have Gun, Will Travel's fifth and latest album could be its best to date
Meatwound — Trash Apparatus EP Meatwound’s 2017 album Largo landed on CL’s best albums list, but if you’re not ready to dive headfirst into a pool of sludgy hardcore, then this EP is a good way to to take a lap around the Meatwound wasteland while acquiring just a tiny bit of tinnitus.
Merchandise — “Begging For Your Life"/"In The City Light” The Tampa art-rock band signed to famed indie label 4AD released 1,000 copies of this clear, 12-inch single previously only available on a split tour cassette with Thurston Moore project Chelsea Light Moving.
Permanent Makeup — Scrape No Clear Records and Dead Tank Records teamed up to release 300 mixed- color pieces of the 2017 release by hyperactive Bay area punk instigators Permanent Makeup.
Pink Lincolns — Back From The Pink Room By our count, there are six different variations of this 1987 album from Tampa punk forefathers Pink Lincolns. The original appears on the Greed Bastard imprint, and Stiff Pole Records put out another in 1995. In 2008, Jailhouse Records pressed the most recent reissue on red-and-white vinyl, and you’d be a really lucky piece of shit to find the German version that Musical Tragedies put out in 1992.
A ROAD HOME
Pleasures' Katherine Kelly Larson on the way out and the way back
Pleasures — Body Pop A synth- and drum-heavy psych-pop adventure that Katherine Kelly’s St. Pete-based band pressed onto 250 copies of purple splatter vinyl earlier this year.
Pohgoh — In Memory Of Bab The first vinyl reissue of Pohgoh’s 1997 debut album (previously only available on CD, released this time on 200 pieces of clear 180g vinyl) sold out quick, so you’ll probably end up with the standard black second pressing that’s still packaged in unforgettable re-imagined art by Lakeland artist Bump Galletta.
Science — East Coast Education Former members of old-school Bay area punks Clairmel and The End of The Century Party came together for this 2014 album that was pressed on 150 pieces of white vinyl.
Soapbox Soliloquy — Good Morning Dragonclaw Its trippy cover was painted by Indiana’s Tom Torluemke, and the inside finds Jasmine Deja and the seven-piece Nimbus Collective getting even weirder on the music and pictorial lyric sheet.
GOOD MORNING DRAGONCLAW
Q&A: Soapbox Soliloquy’s Jasmine Deja discusses new LP, three-song video montage
Sleeping Pills — A Maze In A Wave Phil Taylor seems to always be working on new music, and Tampa Bay fans of the dark, Buzzcocks and Johnny Thunders-influenced rock he makes under the Sleeping Pills moniker are lucky to always have the opportunity to buy it on vinyl.
Vaginasore Jr. — This Here Peninsula If you’ve ever played drunk therapist or screamed “Nice blinker asshole!,” then you need this 2009 ADD Records release from Dave Decker, Joe Paez, Richie Lawler and Russ Van Cleave in your collection. It’s pure indie punk in the vein of Against Me! or Superchunk, and Razorcake’s Dave Rohm once wrote, “It’s like sacrilege, but I have to say it… I like VSJR better than DSJR.”
Veiny Hands — “Tonguing”/“Dirty Sheets” Veiny Hands was a short-lived project, but this 7-inch packaged in a bright grapefruit-colored sleeve features two songs from the indie-rock band’s self-titled BUFU Records cassette and is a good way to stay in touch.
