Oh ho ho, it’s almost that time of the year again, when all the vinyl collectors come out of their wainscoted dens for Record Store Day. It brings a bounty of new and exclusive releases to independent record stores throughout North America and Europe, and it brings together the people who cherish them. Merge Records has announced three exclusive releases for the event, which falls on April 18.
There’s the seven-inch single of “Raleigh Days,” the long-awaited new single by Chapel Hill indie-rock lifers Archers of Loaf, backed with a cover of The Rolling Stones’ “Street Fighting Man.” (We told you Eric Bachmann sounds like he might headbutt you.) It has cover art by Jay Ryan, who handled the redesigns for the Archers reissues.
The other seven-inch is Hiss Golden Messenger’s Let the Light of the World Open Your Eyes (Alive at Spacebomb Studios), which features new versions of two Hiss songs, “Cat’s Eye Blue” and “Standing in the Doorway,” recorded with the ace house band at the Richmond, Virginia studio with many ties to the Triangle.
Finally, there’s Switched-On Seeker, a novel LP from Mikal Cronin. The LA pop-smith remakes his own Seeker LP with a battalion of synths and drum machines, working in the early-electronic vein of Wendy Carlos.
Local shops participating in Record Store Day include Bull City Records, Hunky Dory, Carolina Soul, Schoolkids Records, All Day Records, Sorry State Records, and others; check their websites for special promotions and events, and peruse all participating venues at recordstoreday.com.
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