​Viva la vinyl!

Record Store Day is all about music artists and fans celebrating “the culture of the independently owned record store.” A variety of unique and special releases are pressed for Record Store Day and those are only distributed to participating stores. At this moment, Fargo-Moorhead record shops couldn’t be more excited for this event. Vinyl Giant, Orange Records, Mother’s and Phat Kat Antiques & Vintage Vinyl are participating in Record Store Day and stock up all the special lists of releases on April 21st.

Matt Oland, the owner of Orange Records, commented about the event: “Record Store Day was started as a way to force to people to buy a record from a brick and mortar store. Labels organized releases for Record Store Day that were limited and only sold to “mom & pop” stores. Online retailers and big box stores couldn’t order these releases. I think Record Store Day is about supporting the independent record stores. Those are the places that care about what they sell, unlike big box stores. Now that CDs aren’t selling like they did 15 years ago, Best Buy has announced that they’ll no longer sell CDs,” he added, “I think this year’s most popular Record Store Day releases will be the mono repress of Pink Floyd “Piper at the Gates of Dawn,” the Trampled by Turtles 7,” and the Mac Demarco & Shamir 7” of Beat Happening covers.”

Brady Bredell, the owner of Mother’s said, “I think of the customers and how important it is to maintain the culture of actually walking into a store, flipping through bins and interacting with real people. I absolutely love chatting with them.” Bredell explained the list of Record Store Day releases that is so large and difficult to pick favorites, but he expected the Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and David Bowie releases to sell well. For the event, “Everyone is welcome to attend for free and we’ll have Pat Lenertz and Go Murphy performing (among others). We’ll also be having several drawings for prizes, free food/beverages and a storewide sale on everything from records to posters.”

Erica Sponsler, co-owner of Vinyl Giant Records added, “Record Store Day is a day that creates excitement and buzz to support locally owned record stores in the community. It is also an opportunity for us to put on a fun event where we can show our appreciation to our customers with free live music, prizes and giveaways. Every year, we offer special limited selection t-shirts as well. It is a day to help support the culture of what a record store is. As our world become more digitally focused, people need a break from it. Listening to records is a great alternative to our cell phones. It is an intentional and intimate experience when you look through your record collection to find the next album to listen to.”

“This is the first year that Record Store Day has publicly released the exclusive album releases prior to us placing our order. This gave us an advantage because we were able to have the conversations with our customers about what albums they were really excited to get their hands on this year prior to us placing our Record Store Day order. Some albums that seem to have extra interest include The National, David Bowie, Mac Demarco, Run the Jewels, The Cure, Pink Floyd, Rage Against the Machine, Nas, Led Zepplin, Def Leppard, Dr. Octagon, Van Morrison, The Notorious B.I.G and The Rolling Stones. There’s a little bit of everything available.” She added, “For Record Store Day, we will be open at 9 a.m., with donuts and bacon for people waiting for line. We will have live bands starting at 11 a.m., including Jon Walters, Cropdusters and XPLOR. Fargo Brewing will be here too! Plus, there will be prizes, giveaways and free food in the afternoon. We really love Record Store Day!”

You Should Know:

Orange Records

641 1st Ave N, Fargo, ND

Mother’s

431 Main Ave, Moorhead, MN

Vinyl Giant Records

1304 13th Ave S, Fargo, ND

Phat Kat Antiques & Vintage Vinyl

1501 1st Ave S, Fargo, ND